Keyblade of the Onmyouji
by The Azure Guardian
Summary: After finally killing Naraku for good, Michiru finds himself on his way back to the modern era... Or so he thinks. Finding himself in a strange world, Michiru Kururugi must now join Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they travel to other worlds to fight the Heartless and Organization XIII while Michiru searches for a way back home.
1. Hollow Bastion 1

**A/N: Hey everyone, MDD here with another new story! For those of you who were waiting for me to update my Final Fantasy 9 fic... Sorry, I had to put that one on hold due to writer's block. Once I get things sorted out I'll get back to it, I promise. It's a story I really want to do. Anyway, this is probably going to be an odd story for any of you reading it. If you want to understand what happens at the beginning portion, I'd suggest looking up my Let's Play of InuYasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask on my YouTube channel (the name of which is on my profile page). The video might look like crap due to being direct recording, but I had no idea what I was supposed to use at the time and just used what I had. Anyway, I'll say right now that not a whole lot happens in this chapter other than introductions, but that's because it's the first chapter. Characters gotta meet and go through some explanations and such. Everything will pick up starting next chapter. So without further delay, I bring to you the first chapter of "Keyblade of the Onmyouji"!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or Kingdom Hearts. They both rightfully belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Tetsuya Nomura respectively.**

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**Chapter 1: Hollow Bastion 1**

**(Feudal Era – Japan)**

Deep in the forest of Kururugi Village, a battle is nearing its end between the group of InuYasha, Kagome Higurashi, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, and their newest friend, Michiru Kururugi, against the evil demon Naraku. Both sides have suffered great injury after the demon absorbed Utsugi, Michiru's ancestor, and took his Shikigami power. Even the Flower Bloomer, a sword crafted by Totosai which the demon blacksmith himself gave to Michiru, didn't have much effect against Naraku. In a last-ditch effort to finish Naraku for good, Michiru pooled his remaining strength as the onmyouji boy clasped his hands together and silently prayed.

'_Help me out, Shikigami,_' the teen boy chanted in his mind as a blue aura of Shikigami power erupted around him. "Here it comes, InuYasha!"

Michiru then held out his right arm as the blue flames converged to his palm, creating a red orb of Shikigami that the boy then threw towards the white-haired half demon.

"Got it!" InuYasha said in understanding as he held out his sword, the Tetsusaiga, to catch the Shikigami orb, which then surrounded the blade in blue mystical energy. "This time you're going down, Naraku!"

"I think not!" the evil demon countered as multiple tentacles shot out from his back and sped towards InuYasha.

The half demon held his sword at an angle, deflecting some of the tentacle before cutting them apart and then rushed towards Naraku with his empowered weapon. Naraku shot more tentacles towards the red-garbed dog demon, but InuYasha evaded, deflected, and slashed the tentacles apart. As InuYasha drew closer, the half demon leapt to the air with his sword raised. Naraku could only look up with eyes widened in fear; likely the first time he had ever experienced the emotion.

"Die!" InuYasha shouted as he swung the Tetsusaiga down with all his strength, cleaving Naraku in two.

Even as his body was cut in half, Naraku's face still held a look of fear as Michiru's residual Shikigami magic burned the demon's body away, preventing him from ever regenerating again until there was nothing left…

"We did it!" InuYasha cheered as he slowly raised his sword again and held it over his shoulders.

"We really did it!" Michiru followed with awe in his voice.

"Did we really destroy him this time?" Shippo wondered, given how many times the group had been led to believe the evil demon had been killed before.

"It's finally over. Kohaku will be fine now," Sango said with a relaxed happiness in her voice.

"You can pay for your sins in hell, Naraku!" Miroku cursed the defeated demon.

"It took us a long time to get here. A long time…" Kagome said with relief.

Then, appearing on the ground where Naraku had disappeared, Utsugi's body had reformed lying on his back. Without waiting for fully recover their strength, the group of six rushed over to the fallen onmyouji master with Michiru kneeling by his ancestor's side.

"Utsugi!" Michiru cried out as he placed a hand on his ancestor's shoulder.

"Aaaa… aaaa…." Utsugi groaned weakly.

"Utsugi, hang on, Utsugi!" Michiru pleaded, but then noticed a red stain on Utsugi's hakama. "Red blood? You've become human?"

"What?" Utsugi questioned, his voice still weak before looking down at the red stain.

"It is the art of Soul Infusion," Miroku explained.

"Did Kakuju say anything about that?" Kagome asked, referring to the old woman, who was another of Michiru's ancestor's and partner to Utsugi, who had been killed by a giant failed hitogata of Utsugi not long before the battle against Naraku.

"Yes," Miroku answered with a nod. "Using a secret power, she must have put her soul into the amulet."

"So, she…" InuYasha trailed off as Michiru placed his hand over the amulet around his neck with a somber expression on his face.

"Kakuju? I understand…" Utsugi said, finally knowing why he was unable to take Michiru's soul when he attempted the Soul Infusion, then turned his weak gaze to the onmyouji boy by his side. "Instead of taking your soul, I took her soul, that was inside the amulet."

"Hang in there, Utsugi," Michiru pleaded as he placed his hand back on his ancestor's arm.

"I can die as a human now. With the soul of the woman I love," Utsugi said with finality as a weak smile spread across his lips. "I'm happy now. Thank you."

"Utsugi…" Michiru said, understanding what his ancestor meant but not wanting to believe it as the teen fought back tears. "Don't go! I finally realized I can understand you."

"They say it is a blessed thing to have your next to you when you die. But to have your great-great-grandchild is also a great blessing," Utsugi said to his descendant.

"Don't talk anymore, Utsugi," Michiru requested to try and get his ancestor to save his strength so he could recover.

"I have one last request," Utsugi said to Michiru. "Please bury me in the Kururugi Cemetery."

Everyone then watched as a faint glow in Utsugi's chest slowly faded away.

"Utsugi, are you planning on taking the shard of the Sacred Jewel?" Michiru questioned. "You can't! If that disappears…"

"It's too late," Utsugi said as he slowly shook his head. "If I'm going to die, I want to die as a human."

"You're going to _live_ as a human being!" Michiru retorted in an attempt to stop his ancestor as tears began to fall from the boy's face.

"It's no good. I can't live like this again…" Utsugi said, his face seemingly contorting to a look of pain as he imagined the possible reality of his next words. "Under Naraku's control."

"But…" Michiru trailed off as he tried to find some way of convincing his ancestor until he felt a hand on his shoulder, prompting the boy to turn his attention to the owner of the hand. "Kagome…"

"You should understand," Kagome said with a twinge of sorrow in her voice.

"Please…" Utsugi nearly begged as Michiru was forced to bite his tongue.

"The Kururugi Cemetery, right?" Kagome repeated the name of where Utsugi wished to be laid to rest with a soft tone of voice.

"Please," Utsugi said with another weak smile and a nod of appreciation.

"Utsugi…" Michiru started to sob as tears continued to flow down his cheeks.

"It's my last request to you…" the onmyouji master said to his descendant as Michiru continued to sob before drying his eyes with his arm.

"Okay," Michiru agreed sadly. "Good-bye, Utsugi."

"Kakuju…" Utsugi said with his last breath before his body went limp in his descendant's arms.

"Utsugi…" Michiru said quietly to his deceased ancestor before turning his attention to Kagome. "Would you help me?"

The priestess nodded once, "Of course."

As Michiru lifted Utsugi's body in both arms, the two teens made their way to the village's cemetery where they began to bury the onmyouji master while the others stood back and watched in silence. Once the deed was done, the two silently prayed before Kagome spoke up.

"He looks peaceful," the teenage girl said to try and brighten Michiru's mood.

"Yes," the boy agreed, but was still saddend by the loss. "Kakuju, be happy, with Utsugi."

Suddenly, Michiru's body was being surrounded by light.

"Hey…" Kagome gasped with surprise.

"What is this?" Michiru questioned as he looked himself over.

"Is it because Utsugi's magic has disappeared?" Sango wondered.

"Then, you're going back to our time…?" Kagome asked, referring to the modern era.

"Kagome…" Michiru's voice trailed off.

"W-wait! This is too sudden!" Kagome said in a futile attempt of keeping Michiru from returning by himself.

"Kagome, it's time to say goodbye for now," Michiru tried to calm down the girl he cared for most as the light intensified.

"You're here and gone in a moment's notice," Kagome said, trying hard to fight back tears.

"This is it, Kagome. I want to tell you something before I go," Michiru said, wanting to let out his true feelings before it was too late while the light surrounding him intensified more.

"What?" Kagome asked, wanting to know what the boy wanted to say.

"Kagome, I…" Michiru trailed off as his voice and body disappeared in the intense light.

When the light disappeared, Michiru was gone.

"Michiru…" Kagome said softly as she took one step towards where the boy had been standing with one hand against her chest.

"I'm certain he's returned to his time now," Miroku said, sad that a friend had to leave so soon before them.

"Do you think he'll ever come back?" Shippo asked.

"I don't know," Sango replied. "If he can still use his Shikigami in his own time, who knows what could happen."

"I'm sure he'll be able to find some way to do it," InuYasha spoke up with confidence. "For the time he's been with us he's proven to be a resourceful kid. I wouldn't be surprised if he found some way to get back."

"And on the bright side, Kagome should be able to meet up with him in their time," Miroku pointed out.

"You're right," Kagome said quietly with a soft smile and a firm nod. "I'm sure we'll all see him again."

* * *

**(Unknown)**

A beam of light shot down from the sky for a brief moment and then faded away, leaving Michiru Kururugi behind as the boy was left lying on his stomach. After a couple seconds, the teen's fingers twitched and he slowly pushed himself up.

"Where am I?" Michiru thought aloud as he placed one hand on his head before quickly pulling it away. "Hey wait, now I remember!"

Michiru quickly looked up and checked his surrounded, but a look of shock soon fell on his face.

"But then… what is this place?" Michiru wondered as he looked around at the ground and walls of stone, damaged housed that appeared to be in the processes of being rebuilt, and bronze pipes sticking out of the walls. "Wasn't I supposed to go home? I definitely don't recognize this place."

Then a sound caught Michiru's attention. The boy quickly looked around for the source of the noise until a strange creature with a slender, silver body appeared in front of him.

"Whoa!" Michiru cried out as he fell on his backside. "What is this? Some kind of demon?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, four more of the silver creatures appeared near the first as if materializing out of thin air.

"If these are demons, then…" Michiru muttered to himself before pushing himself to his feet. "I'll have to fight!"

As if reacting to Michiru's words, the five creatures started to twitch uncontrollably before lunging towards the boy. Michiru barely had enough time to dive out of the way from the speed of these creatures.

"These things are fast. I'd better be careful," the onmyouji told himself as he held out his right hand. "Shikigami, please help!"

A red orb of Shikigami appeared in Michiru's hand before the boy threw it at one of the silver creatures like a baseball. The orb struck its target, but aside from being knocked back a bit the creature appeared unharmed.

"What the? Since when could a demon resist my Shikigami that much?" Michiru wondered before shaking his head and a red pentagram slowly appeared under the boy's feet. "Oh flame, burning bright! Turn into a sword of wrath! **Raging Flame!**"

The young onmyouji then held his right arm in front of him, his hand open and fingers spread, as the pentagram beneath him faded and a red katana made of pure Shikigami materialized in his hand. Just as Michiru grasped the weapon's hilt, the five silver creatures lunged at him again. The teen countered with a few swings of his Shikigami sword, but quickly noticed that his attacks were only making the creatures back off and weren't doing any damage.

"What the heck is going on? My Shikigami has never let me down," Michiru questioned, his attention turned to the magic sword he was holding.

Unfortunately that moment of distraction was just what the creatures needed as all five of them lunged at Michiru once more and struck the boy while his guard was down. Crying out in pain, Michiru was sent back-first into the stone wall, the pain causing him to lose his Shikigami sword.

"Ow… These things are strong…" Michiru groaned on pain as he placed his left hand on his chest where one of the creatures struck hardest.

Michiru then quickly looked up and saw the creatures moving in on him, knowing he was done for if his only method of fighting was no longer effective.

"Hey, over here!" Michiru heard someone's voice call out and, along with the silver creatures, turned his attention in the direction of the voice.

Running towards the onmyouji and the five creatures was a young boy wearing a strange set of clothes of mostly black and silver with some red, blue and yellow, oversized black and yellow shoes, spiked brown hair and blue eyes. Next to the boy were two… demons? One looked like a white-feathered duck wearing a blue shirt and hat while the other appeared to be some kind of dog with long, drooping ears wearing a green, long-sleeved turtleneck sweater under an open black vest with baggy yellow pants and large steel-toed shoes. The duck creature was carrying a large stick adorned with a strange purple hat while the dog creature held a round shield with an odd design of three circles in the center that gave the appearance of some kind of mouse. The human boy though wielded the most bizarre weapon that Michiru had ever seen; an oversized key with a silver shaft and teeth shaped like some kind of crown and a gold rain guard.

As if reacting to the boy's weapon, the five silver creatures completely ignored Michiru and charged towards the new group of three. Michiru watched as the three fought off the creatures; the duck using his stick – which Michiru finally figured out to be a staff – to cast magic, the dog using his shield to knock the creatures away, and the brown-haired boy using his key weapon like a sword.

"Sora!" another voice called out, a young woman's this time, as another weapon flew around and struck down some of the silver creatures.

The brown-haired boy and Michiru turned their attention to the direction of the voice to see a teenage girl with short black hair garbed in a black tank-top with a white Hawaiian flowered design underneath a sleeveless dark-gray vest, black khaki shorts, black shoes and a black headband.

"Yuffie!" the brown-haired boy, now identified to Michiru as Sora, called out happily to the girl as she raised her right hand and caught the weapon that had been flying around, now revealed to be a giant four-sided shuriken.

"We can chat later! Let's take care of these things first!" the girl, Yuffie, said as she readied her weapon again.

"Right!" Sora agreed as he pulled his key-shaped sword to his side in a ready stance.

'_Darn it, I should help them. But I'm not strong enough…_' Michiru thought to himself before remembering he had a item that could increase his Shikigami power, to which he dug a hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a small circular trinket with a red star engraved in the center. '_I hope this works._' "Shikigami, please help!"

Michiru then held his arm towards one of the silver creatures, hoping that the strengthened shot of Shikigami would at least do _some_ damage. But what happened was something Michiru would've never expected; the Shikigami Disc started to glow!

"What the?!" Michiru gasped in surprise as the glowing light drew everyone's attention away from the fight.

"What's that?" the dog-like creature wondered.

The light grew brighter, momentarily blinding everyone but the silver creatures. When the light faded, Michiru was now holding a weapon similar to the one used by Sora, but with an oddly familiar appearance to the young onmyouji; though the primary color of the overall weapon was red, the shaft also had entwining colors of blue, green and white along the shaft. The teeth of the oversized key were shaped like the red star from the Shikigami Disc and the pentagram that had appeared when Michiru materialized his Shikigami sword. The rain guard was a mix of red, green and blue with designs of flames, wind and water respectively while the handle was pure white. The keychain token looked exactly like the Shikigami Disc while the chain itself was pure white, similar to the handle.

"What is this thing?" Michiru asked, completely dumbfounded.

"A Keyblade?" the duck creature wondered.

In response to both Michiru's new weapon and the creature's words, one of the silver creatures lunged at Michiru again.

"Wah! Stay back!" Michiru cried out as he swung the weapon, destroying the enemy of contact much to the onmyouji's surprise. "W-what?"

"Let's finish them off, guys!" Sora exclaimed as the boy charged at another of the silver creatures, swinging his weapon and destroying the creature.

Yuffie and the dog creature threw their weapons at the silver creatures while the duck creature cast another spell, destroying the remaining three creatures.

"What the heck is going on?" Michiru thought aloud as he looked over the strange weapon in his hand.

"Hey, you okay?" Sora's voice asked as Michiru looked away from his new weapon to see the boy, dog and duck run up to him, though Sora now seemed to be lacking his weapon.

"Uh, yeah. I guess," Michiru answered. "What kind of demons were those?"

"Demons?" Sora repeated with confusion. "Those are Nobodies."

"No… bodies?" Michiru slowly repeated.

"How is he able to use a Keyblade?" the duck creature directed his question to Sora. "The only ones who _can_ use one are you and the King."

"Don't forget that Riku used a Keyblade, too," the dog creature corrected the duck.

"What's a Keyblade?" Michiru asked, completely confused by the situation.

"Um, well… It's kind of hard to explain," Sora replied as he rubbed the back of his head, then decided to introduce himself. "By the way, my name's Sora."

"Donald Duck," the duck creature greeted.

"The name's Goofy," the dog creature said.

"I'm Michiru. Michiru Kururugi," the onmyouji boy greeted himself.

"Hey, Sora! If you're done making new friends for the moment…" Yuffie's voice called out, drawing the group's attention to her as she jumped down from the roof of a building. "I see you're still in top form."

"What'd you expect?" Sora retorted with a bit of a laugh as the boy struck his fist to his chest. "Looks like you're doing okay."

"Well, what did _you_ expect?" Yuffie countered.

"How are the others?" Donald asked.

"Great!" Yuffie answered cheerfully before turning to face Michiru. "Though you're a new face. I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"Um, well…" Michiru trailed off as he scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, Yuffie. Have you seen the King and Riku?" Sora asked the ninja girl.

"Nope," Yuffie said casually before walking off as Sora hung his head in disappointment, but the girl stopped and turned back around. "But I had a feeling I'd see you three again."

Sora lifted his head to look at the girl with a smile, but then changed to a serious expression as he raised his right hand, "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other."

Even though he had parted from them not long ago, Michiru couldn't help but remember his friends from the Feudal Era as a small smile crept on his face.

"Is that supposed to be Leon?" Yuffie laughed a bit while Donald and Goofy laughed out loud. "Everybody's working on stuff over at Merlin's house. C'mon!"

With that, Yuffie ran down the street again and out of view. Sora then turned his attention to Michiru.

"Why don't you come with us?" Sora offered.

"That might be a good idea. I don't have a clue about what's going on," Michiru accepted, still holding his new Keyblade weapon.

"Leon and the others should be able to help you out," Goofy suggested.

"And it'll be more comfortable to talk indoors instead of out in the street," Sora pointed out, to which Michiru nodded in agreement.

"Let's go and meet the others," Donald said, seemingly anxious to get moving.

Sora and Michiru nodded together as the onmyouji followed the group of three through the stone-paved streets until they reached a house. But as the group of four walked closer to the building, three dark spots appeared on the ground and began to take form.

"What's going on?" Michiru asked as the shadows became three small, black creatures with yellow eyes. "More of those Nobodies?"

"Heartless!" Sora corrected as his Keyblade appeared in the boy's hands again. "Come on, Michiru!"

"Uh, right!" the onmyouji paused for a moment, not entirely sure of what to do before opting to follow Sora's lead.

As the two ran towards the Heartless, the creatures dispersed to keep away from the Keyblades. Seeing this, Goofy ran around to cut one of them off and keep it from escaping.

"**Thunder!**" Donald shouted as he raised his staff, causing a bolt of lightning to fall onto one of the small Heartless and caused it to explode into a dark mist.

Sora had chased after the Heartless that was being blocked by Goofy, the small creature continuously bashing itself against Goofy's shield while Michiru went after the third Heartless, which had managed to back itself into a corner. The onmyouji boy, however, seemed reluctant in attacking the small creature as its head continued to twitch around.

"Why are you just standing there!?" Donald shouted, startling Michiru.

"What's wrong, Michiru?" Sora asked as he ran up to the onmyouji.

"Nothing, I just…" Michiru just trailed off as he turned to face his new companion.

While Michiru was distracted, the Heartless took the opportunity to attack by jumping at the onmyouji. Seeing this, Sora quickly swung his Keyblade, destroying the Heartless and leaving Michiru stunned.

"Sorry about that," Sora quickly apologized as his Keyblade disappeared again. "But why didn't you destroy the Heartless?"

"It… didn't seem right," Michiru answered honestly. "It's not like they attacked us first."

"But if we don't destroy the Heartless, they'll overrun this world," Goofy pointed out.

'_The _world_?_' Michiru repeated in his head, his eyes widened his shock. "They're already _that_ widespread? How can you guys hope to accomplish that by yourselves?"

"The Heartless have appeared on more than just this world. We've fought them before but they just keep coming," Donald said in annoyance.

"More than this…" Michiru quietly repeated to himself, his voice trailing off. '_So these guys travel to different _worlds_? But that can't be possible, can it? No modern space craft could be _that_ fast._'

"Well since it was just those three small ones, I'd say we're in the clear for now," Sora said. "Come on, let's head inside and meet the others."

As Sora, Donald and Goofy walked up to the door of the house, Michiru trailed behind as he thought to himself.

'_So after defeating Naraku, instead of going home I was sent somewhere else. I have something called a Keyblade…_' Michiru momentarily glanced at the weapon still in his hand. '_And there are monsters called Nobodies and Heartless and those three are apparently able to go to other worlds. Darn it, I just want to find out how to get back home._'

Michiru then followed his three companions into the house where, at the other side of the building, were three other humans, two men and one woman. One of the men was sitting at a computer while the other man and the woman were watching over him. Yuffie then jumped out from a corner to greet the group of four.

"Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" Yuffie greeted them while also somewhat introducing them to the other three in the room, who all turned away from the computer monitor to see who Yuffie was talking to.

"We missed you!" greeted the woman, who had long, braided brown hair, green eyes and wore a dress of pink and white.

"Well, if you ain't in top shape," said the man who was sitting at the computer, who had short blonde hair, wearing a white t-shirt, blue pants and a yellow sash around his waist while smoking a cigarette.

"I knew it," the other man said, who had long brown hair and wore a white shirt under an open black, short-sleeved jacket and black pants.

"Knew what?" Sora inquired as he, Donald and Goofy walked towards the group with Michiru trailing behind slowly while looking around the rather small house.

"A while back, everyone suddenly remembered you guys, all at the same time," the brown-haired man answered.

"You… remembered?" Sora repeated slowly. "Wait! Does that mean you forgot about us!?"

"Thanks!" Donald said ungratefully.

"So where've you guys been all this time?" Yuffie asked.

"We were sleepin'," Goofy answered honesly.

"Where? In cold storage?" the blonde man joked.

"It doesn't matter," the woman said softly. "This is great. Everyone's together again!"

"So, um… we're trying to find Riku and the King. Have you seen 'em?" Sora inquired, but to his disappointment, the three shook their heads, causing the boy to sigh. "Right."

"Sorry," the woman apologized. "But let us know if there's anything we can do to help. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks," Sora said with a quick nod.

"Speaking of helping…" the brown-haired man said slowly as he turned his attention to Michiru, who was still looking around. "Can we help you?"

"Huh?" Michiru finally spoke up as he turned around to face everyone else. "Oh, sorry."

"Who're you anyway? Never seen you before," the blonde man said.

"His name's Michiru. We just met him outside when we met Yuffie," Sora answered for the onmyouji.

"Yes, I think Yuffie mentioned that," the woman said before introducing herself. "My name is Aerith."

"Name's Cid," the blonde introduced himself.

"Just call me Leon," said the brown-haired man.

"Uh, nice to meet you," Michiru greeted with a bow.

"Heh. Kid sure knows his manners, that's for sure," Cid said with a short laugh, but then noticed what Michiru was holding. "What the? He's got a Keyblade?"

That definitely drew Aerith's and Leon's attention as they gazed at the weapon in the boy's hand. Michiru could only glance down at his Keyblade and look back up at the three adults in confusion.

"You're right, it is," Leon confirmed. "But how did he get a hold of one?"

"Is it really that big a deal? I mean I have one and so does the King," Sora pointed out.

"Not just anyone can have a Keyblade, Sora," Aerith explained softly. "The Keyblades choose their masters."

"So that must mean this kid is worth a bigger whoop than we might think if he's got one," Cid said.

"I don't even know how I got this thing," Michiru stated. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy were trying to save me and then it just appeared in my hand."

"Well if you travel with Sora, maybe you'll find out why it picked you," Leon suggested.

"But there's only room for three on the Gummi Ship," Donald pointed out.

"Hey, you realize who you're in the presence of?" Cid questioned. "If you leave it to me, I can fix that ship of yours up. Might take a bit though."

"Thanks Cid!" Sora said, but Cid practically jumped up from his seat and walked up to Sora, punching his fist into his palm.

"Hey now, don't go thankin' us just yet," Cid warned.

"Hollow Bastion's got a problem. A big problem," Leon said.

"You mean, like Nobodies? And Heartless?" Sora asked.

"That's right!" Yuffie answered.

"Sounds like you could use our help," Sora offered.

"Then let's cut to the chase," Leon accepted as he walked up to Sora and took a glance towards Michiru. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, Michiru. We were hoping the four of you might give us a hand around here."

Sora just bumped his fist into his chest, "Like we're gonna say no?"

Leon couldn't help but crack a smile, "…I forgot who I'm dealing with."

"If it'll help me learn about this Keyblade thing, then sure. I'll lend a hand," Michiru said as he walked up to the group.

"We'll take all the help we can get," Yuffie said as Leon walked over to the door and opened it before turning back to face the group.

"Follow me to the bailey— there's something you need to see," Leon said before walking out.

But just as the man left, a puff of smoke appeared in the doorway and from it appeared an old man with a long white beard garbed in blue.

"Oh! I thought it was you. Right on time!" the old man greeted to Sora, Donald, and Goofy before noticing Michiru. "Oh, and you've brought a new friend."

"It's Merlin!" Donald shouted ecstatically as Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked towards the old man with Michiru once again following behind.

"Sora and the gang said they're gonna help out!" Yuffie told the old wizard.

"Splendid! We'll count on you!" Merlin said cheerfully.

"Right," Donald and Goofy said in unison as they nodded.

"Ah, yes. Did you give them the cards, dear?" Merlin directed his question to Aerith.

"Oh!" the woman gasped as she dug into a pocket in her dress and pulled out some cards. "Here… they're presents for you. Leon thought you might like to have them."

Once Aerith handed the cards to Sora, the boy looked them over and seemed happy by what was on it, "Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member! And they have our names on them!"

"Membership cards!" Donald exclaimed.

"Kinda cool, huh?" Goofy said.

"Unfortunately we don't have one for you at the moment, but once you're done with Leon we'll work on one for you," Aerith said to Michiru.

"Oh, thank you very much," Michiru said with a polite bow.

"We're supposed to meet him at the bailey, right?" Sora asked. "Let's get going."

Just as the group of four was about to leave the house, Merlin decided to stop Michiru.

"Pardon me, my lad. I couldn't help but notice you have a Keyblade," Merlin said.

"Is it really that important?" Michiru asked as he held the weapon up a bit.

"Of course it is," Merlin answered. "Now, I'm sure you need to hurry along, but once you get back, I'll try to answer whatever questions you might have."

"Really?" Michiru asked, his eyes widened with hope. "Thank you, I'll take you up on that offer once we're back."

With another bow, Michiru ran out the door to catch up with Sora and the others.

After leaving Merlin's home, Michiru caught up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy and the four of them walked up the nearby stone stairs and into the bailey, where they saw Leon leaning against the far wall. When Leon saw the group of four getting closer, he pushed himself off the wall and looked through the balcony.

"Look at that," Leon said as the group of four now stood next to him, following the man's gaze.

In the distance was a large castle-like structure, and at the base it appeared to be surrounded by either black water or what must have been millions of Heartless.

"We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be," Leon explained. "Who knows—maybe even something better. There's still a lot to do, but I'm sure we can handle everything— Except… for that…" Leon then pointed down to an area not far from the castle structure. "…and that."

Looking down, the ground of four saw two of the Dusk Nobodies casually walking towards the structure in the distance. Sora then turned his attention to Leon.

"We'll handle 'em," the boy assured the man.

"Well, that's good to hear," Leon said. "So Sora—do you know what's going on, then?"

That question piqued Michiru's interest as the onmyouji boy turned his attention towards Sora and Leon to overhear their conversation.

"There's this guy, Pete, who's been going around plotting with the Heartless," Sora started his explanation. "But he's not smart enough to tie his own shoes. The ones we need to worry about are the Nobodies."

"And those Organization XIII guys in charge, too!" Goofy added.

'_Pete? Organization XIII? Why is it that I'm somehow reminded of Naraku?_' Michiru thought to himself.

"You called?" a deep voice asked, earning the attention of the five present.

After looking around inside the bailey for the voice, Sora was the first to run out towards another set of stairs with Donald, Goofy, and Michiru close behind.

"You're doing well," another voice complimented, to which Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"Who's that!?" Sora demanded.

"This calls for a celebration…" the first voice said as four of the Dusk Nobodies appeared out of thin air.

"These guy are the Nobodies, right?" Michiru asked, wanting to make sure he wasn't getting them and the Heartless confused again.

"Right," Sora answered. "Goofy and Donald, you two get the ones on the stairs. Michiru, Leon, and I will handle the other ones."

"Got it," Sora's two companions agreed as Donald and Goofy readied their weapons and charged down the stairs with Sora, Michiru, and Leon heading back into the bailey after the other two Nobodies.

"Don't let them through the gate!" Leon warned the Keyblade bearers.

"Right!" Sora and Michiru answered together as Michiru charged on ahead with Sora jumping over the two Nobodies to cut them off.

The two Keyblade wielders charged right at the Dusks and struck them in a pincer attack, destroying them in the combination attack.

"Looks like you're getting the hang of fighting with a Keyblade," Sora remarked.

"Let's just say I've had a lot of practice with a sword," Michiru said.

"Get ready, here comes more!" Leon warned as a few more Nobodies appeared from thin air, a couple of them opting to attack Leon while the other two continued walking towards the Key-bearers.

"Is that all?" Sora questioned as he aimed his Keyblade at one of the Nobodies. "**Deep Freeze!**"

Firing from the tip of the key was a spear of ice that flew through the air and impaled the Nobody and destroyed it instantly.

"Whoa," Michiru said in awe. "Is that some kind of spiritual attack?"

"Nope, magic," Sora answered shortly. "You got any?"

Michiru thought back to when he was first attacked by the Nobodies and his Shikigami had no effect on them.

'_But maybe…_' Michiru thought to himself as he glanced at the Keyblade in his right hand before holding out his left arm. "Shikigami, attack!"

A red orb of Shikigami materialized into Michiru's hand and the boy threw it at the Nobody. Unfortunately the creature was able to dodge it, but not completely as the orb struck its side and effectively blew off a portion of its body.

"Whoa!" Michiru shouted in surprise. '_I guess this Keyblade has a similar effect as the Shikigami Disc._'

Charging from the other side of the bailey, Leon cut down the damaged Nobody with his rather oddly-designed sword after dealing with the two that had gone after him. The swordsman then ran between Sora and Michiru and stood by them.

"I don't think we're done yet," Leon said as, once again, more Nobodies materialized.

This time though, instead of Dusks, these Nobodies had different appearances. Two of them – to Michiru at least – looked like they'd fit in well in the Feudal Era with their samurai-styled builds. The other eight Nobodies were smaller than the Dusks, but frequently changed forms into some kind of bird, a sword, and an octagonal shield.

"They just don't give up," Sora said with a hint of irritation.

"I think I can take care of them," Michiru offered.

"Can you?" Leon asked, glancing at the onmyouji boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Not sure. But I'm going to try," Michiru said as he closed his eyes to concentrate, the red pentagram from before circling under his feet. "Oh flame, burning bright! Shine your judgment upon us! **Flame of Judgment!**"

Michiru gripped the handle of his Keyblade with both hands as he aimed the tip of the weapon at the oncoming Nobodies. In an instant, a large sphere of red Shikigami was fired from the tip of the Keyblade right at the group of Nobodies. The Samurai Nobodies, unfortunately, jumped back far enough to avoid the blast as the other, smaller Nobodies were caught in the resulting explosion.

"Whoa, that's cool!" Sora exclaimed.

"What kind of magic was _that_?" Leon asked.

"It's not magic," Michiru answered. "It's the power of Shikigami."

The three swordsmen had to grit their teeth in disappointment though as not all of the smaller Nobodies were destroyed. Some of them had changed to their shield forms, which must have been able to protect them from the blast. Not only that but the two Samurai Nobodies had closed in once the explosion had settled down.

"Let's finish them off then!" Sora said with Leon and Michiru nodding in agreement.

The three of them charged ahead with their weapons, attacking the smaller Nobodies when they changed out of their shield forms and destroying them with ease. The two Samurai Nobodies, however, proved to be more challenging, able to use not only their two swords but even their sheaths to attack and defend.

"This isn't working," Leon growled in annoyance as the three swordsmen were forced to back away.

Michiru quickly looked over the two approaching opponents and then glanced at the sheathed sword on the left side of his waist with hesitation, "You two focus on one of them. I'll try to handle the other."

"What? Are you sure?" Sora asked out of concern.

"At the least I can keep the other one off you guys while you take on the other," Michiru assured as he placed his left hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword. "Like I said, I've had practice with a sword. So I wouldn't be without one now would I?"

There was a moment of silence between the three until Leon spoke up, "If you think you can handle yourself, then go ahead. But if you get in trouble, you better back down."

"Right," Michiru said as he grabbed hold of the sheathed sword's hilt. '_Flower Bloomer won't work if its wielder intends to do harm. It's a sword meant for the pure of heart. Totosai, once again, I thank you for offering me this sword and I promise to treat it with respect._'

With his Keyblade in his right hand, Michiru slowly drew his sword – a beautifully crafted tsurugi-style Japanese sword – from its sheath and held it in a defensive posture, a sense of purity emanating from the blade. The three swordsmen then charged at the two Nobodies with Sora and Leon focusing on one while Michiru went after the other to act as a distraction. While Sora and Leon were able to get some quick and easy attacks in due to being two-on-one, Michiru and his Nobody opponent found themselves countering each other's attacks with their sword and Keyblade. Mentally thanking Sango and InuYasha in helping him to use the Flower Bloomer in battle, which in turn allowed him to use his Raging Flame power more easily, Michiru continued to trade blows with the Samurai Nobody until the onmyouji found an opening and struck the creature with both weapons, forcing the creature to fall back from the injury. Unfortunately, the constant trading and countering of sword strikes, along with using Flame of Judgment, left Michiru exhausted. As he prepared to defend himself from the Nobody's next attack, Michiru lowered his guard when he saw the creature was destroyed from an attack by Sora.

"You okay, Michiru?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, just a little tired I guess," the onmyouji answered as he put Flower Bloomer back into its sheath. '_Plus I still haven't recovered properly after we defeated Naraku. I'm surprised I could go on this far without some rest._'

"The Keyblade…a truly marvelous weapon," the deep voice spoke up again, which must have meant the Nobodies in the area were destroyed, including the ones Donald and Goofy went after. "Were it only in more…capable hands…"

In response to the voice, which was followed by a small chorus of laughs, Sora, Michiru, and Leon ran out of the bailey, meeting back up with Donald and Goofy to try and find the owner of the voice.

"Show yourselves!" Sora demanded.

As if in compliance, a figure in a dark robe appeared on top of an adjacent platform from a dark portal of some kind. The figure then raised its arms and soon five more figures wearing the same robes joined it from dark portals of their own.

"Organization XIII!" Goofy exclaimed with surprise.

'_I can sense… something impure about them…_' Michiru thought to himself as he stared at the robed figures as Sora nodded to Donald and Goofy before facing the figures again.

"Good. Now let's settle this!" the Key-bearer declared.

"What a shame…" the first figure mockingly sighed. "And here I thought we could be friends."

All six of the figures then proceeded to laugh before vanishing into dark portals as Donald shouted after them, "Stop!"

Donald then tried to chase after the figures by heading for the stairs, but was cut off when a dark portal appeared in front of the duck as Sora, Goofy, and Michiru ran to Donald's side. Emerging from the portal was one of the robed figures. Confused, Donald looked to the nearby platform to see the robed figures were no longer there.

"What's the big idea!?" Donald questioned.

"Oopsy-daisy!" the figure said in a rather relaxed, carefree tone.

"Move!" Sora demanded.

"Now do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?" the figure asked.

"Considering you guys just sent those Nobodies to attack us, _should_ we have any reason to be polite to you?" Michiru questioned, only to have the figure stare at the boy – or at Michiru's Keyblade rather – and then promptly ignoring the onmyouji.

"I said get outta the way!" Sora demanded again.

"As if! You can talk all you want, it won't change a thing," the figure said nonchalantly.

"Then we're gonna _make_ you move!" Donald challenged as he, Sora, Goofy, and Michiru prepared to fight again.

"See, that would work—if I were just any old dude," the figure said, not feeling the least bit intimidated. "'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing "any old" about me."

"Ha!" Sora scoffed. "Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while his Nobody flunkeys did the fighting!"

"Oh, dear," the figure sighed. "I think you got the wrong impression."

"You gonna cry?" Sora attempted to mock the Organization member.

"As if! Why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?" the robed figure offered.

"Remind me?" Sora asked in confusion but then resumed to glare at the figure, which strangely caused him to laugh.

"That's _right_, he used to give me that same exact look," the figure said, this time confusing everyone.

"I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff!"

"Gee… I just don't know," the figure said, but Michiru could tell the robed figure was hiding something from the tone of voice while the Organization member spread his arms out, leaving himself wide open to an attack, but then lowered his arms when no one bothered to attack him. "Be a good boy now!"

With that, another dark portal appeared behind the figure.

"Wait!" Donald called after the figure, leaping towards the portal as the figure walked into it and closing it behind him, causing Donald to land face-first into the ground. "Nuts! He got away!"

"That was weird," Sora said, earning everyone's attention. "_Who_ gave him the same look?"

"Y'know, I think he was just tryin' to confuse ya," Goofy figured.

"Yeah, you're right. Only one me!" Sora agreed.

"Maybe… But that doesn't mean there can't be someone who _looks_ like you," Michiru said.

"Huh? You know something?" Sora wondered.

Michiru just shook his head, "No. But I've experienced it before. Someone who looked like me committed a crime, so when I was in the area all the blame was shifted to me as a result."

"I see…" Sora said as he thought on the matter for a moment before digging into his pocket and pulling out the membership card Aerith had given him and held it up, reading the back of the card aloud. "The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member—"

Sora then suddenly gasped as the card began to glow, leaving Donald and Goofy in awe.

'_Now what's going on?_' Michiru wondered in his head as the card just hovered in mid-air while the tip of Sora's Keyblade gave off a similar glow.

"What's this?" Leon inquired.

"Gawrsh, ya think…?" Goofy trailed off as the membership card rose higher into the air and Sora aimed his Keyblade at the ground.

Suddenly, a crown-shaped design appeared under Sora's feet and also gave off a similar glow as the card and Sora's Keyblade as a strange energy wrapped around the Key-bearer. A beam of light then shot up to the sky from the card and caused a keyhole to appear. Seeing the keyhole, Sora leapt back, swung his Keyblade around, and then pointed it at the keyhole as a thin beam was fired from the tip right into the keyhole, causing it to disappear with the sound of a turning lock.

"Ohh…now I get it," Sora said, to which Michiru could only tilt his head in confusion. "That must've been the gate Yen Sid talked about."

"Oh boy!" Donald cheered.

Sora then quickly turned around to face Leon, "Sorry to run, Leon, but other worlds are calling."

Leon nodded in understanding, "Organization XIII… They look tough. Be careful out there."

Donald and Goofy nodded and Sora replied, "See you soon."

"But make sure you check with Cid about your Gummi Ship before you leave," Leon reminded, motioning towards Michiru as Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned around to face their new comrade.

"Oh, right," Sora said sheepishly. "I almost forgot we needed to make some extra room for you."

"No, I understand. I don't think I can imagine the kind of excitement you have, being able to visit other worlds," Michiru said. "Plus I need to talk to Merlin and see if I can get some answers."

"Right. We'll head back to Merlin's, speak with him, and check on the Gummi Ship before we head off," Sora listed off.

"Thank you for letting me accompany you, Sora," Michiru said with a thankful bow. "I promise to not be a burden."

"With how you handled yourself against those Nobodies, I think you'll do just fine as long as you stick with Sora," Leon said. "Now you four had better get going."

"Right," all four answered together as they nodded in unison before heading back to Merlin's.

* * *

**A/N: So that takes care of the opening chapter. As for how I plan to have the story go forward, I'll have each chapter take place on the various worlds the group explores, so each chapter will be the length of that world. If a world is visited multiple times, I'll put numbers next to the name of the world in the chapter title. That's really about it, so I hope you all enjoy this crossover story of mine.**


	2. The Land of Dragons 1

**A/N: Welcome everyone, I am The Azure Guardian (formerly Master of Death and Darkness, formerly Psycho Duelist, formerly Azurekite4), but you can all just call me Azure Guardian (even though that name's already taken). Why did I change my name? Because I felt like it, simple as that. Anyway... Holy crap, this chapter took so long for me to do. And at over 13,000 words (prior to the Authors Notes from document editing), this is possibly my longest chapter yet. Wait, hold on... No, I still think that one chapter of mine over on Death Rising still holds the record. That one's at around 20,000 words, wasn't it? But that's besides the point. Writing this chapter, I starting feeling like I should just give up on the story here and now because it was such a pain to write. And only at the second chapter! But even so, I had fun writing it and I hope you all have fun reading it. For those of you who don't know about Secret of the Cursed Mask, I use a bit more of Michiru's Shikigami powers in this chapter, and even one that isn't his (Binding Blue Sky is actually exclusive to the female protagonist of the game, but I decided to have Michiru use it just because I wanted to). With all that said, let's get this chapter started!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or Kingdom Hearts. Both are owned by Rumiko Takehashi and Tetsuya Nomura respectively.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Land of Dragons 1**

**(Unknown)**

Inside a castle, deep in the heart of a city to a nameless world, a figure in a black robe walked up to another.

"Speak," the second figure told the first.

"I'm sure you've noticed at Hollow Bastion, that other boy that was with Sora," the first figure said. "He too had a Keyblade. What does this mean for our plan?"

The second figure was silent for a moment, "Sora still takes precedence. But keep an eye on the boy. He has a unique power that could be of use to us."

The first figure nodded once in understanding before walking away and disappearing into a Corridor of Darkness.

* * *

**(Hollow Bastion)**

After the world's gate was unlocked, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Michiru made their way back to Merlin's home to check on Cid's progress with the Gummi Ship. In the meantime, Michiru took the opportunity to see what answers he could get from the old wizard.

"So my lad, what is it you would like to know?" Merlin asked.

"I guess I should ask about the Keyblade first," the onmyouji said as he lifted the weapon in his hand. "What exactly is it for? And how do I do what Sora does?"

"A very good question. Unfortunately I don't know everything about the Keyblades, but what I can tell you is that they have the power to open and seal worlds. This power can be used to allow access to other worlds or to keep the number of Heartless in that world in check," Merlin explained, then looked towards Sora who did have his Keyblade on hand. "As for your other question, I assume you mean summoning and dispelling the Keyblade. While I've had no experience with them myself, I believe the Keyblades will respond to the hearts of their chosen wielders."

"Respond to their hearts?" Michiru repeated.

"Yes. You see, the heart is very powerful, and only those with an especially strong heart have the opportunity to be chosen by a Keyblade," Merlin explained. "As such, a Keyblade will act as the heart of its wielder wills it."

While processing the information, Michiru held out his Keyblade and concentrated on it, attempting to will it away for the time being. Though it took a few seconds, the Keyblade eventually disappeared much like Sora's did the two times Michiru had seen the younger boy do it.

"It might take some time, but I'm sure you'll get the hang it of," Merlin said as Michiru briefly stared at his empty hand.

"Thank you," Michiru said before returning his attention to the wizard. "Now I have a more important question. How can I get home?"

This time Merlin seemed perplexed about the question as the old wizard stroked his beard, "Unfortunately I don't really have an answer for you, my lad. If your world is out there somewhere, I'm sure you'll find it again if you travel with Sora, Donald, and Goofy."

"I see," Michiru said with downcast understanding.

"However, I would suggest trying to find the sorcerer Yen Sid," Merlin continued, causing the onmyouji boy to look at the wizard in confusion. "Yen Sid is far more knowledgeable about both the Keyblades and of other worlds than I, so I can almost guarantee if anyone can help you, it'll be him."

"Where can I find him?" the teen asked with anticipation.

"Locating Yen Sid won't be as easy as you might think, my boy," Merlin warned. "The world in which he lives lies between the Light and the Darkness, and unless you know its exact location or are summoned by him specifically, finding the world will be a troubling feat."

"I see," Michiru said before quietly sighing in defeat before once again remembering his adventures in the Feudal Era. "Well, it's not the first time I've had trouble trying to find my way back home. Thank you for the assistance, Merlin."

As Michiru bowed politely, Merlin couldn't help but laugh with amusement, "My, you certainly are a respectful lad, aren't you."

"Alright!" Michiru and Merlin heard Sora shout victoriously. "Good news, Michiru! The Gummi Ship's ready to go!"

"Well now, best you get going. You won't discover anything by standing around," Merlin stated.

"Right," Michiru agreed with a nod before walking towards Sora and the others as Cid took another puff of his cigarette.

"Just don't go gettin' that ship damaged. It's not like we keep a stockpile of Gummi Blocks lyin' around," Cid warned almost threateningly.

"We promise we'll take good care of it," Goofy assured the blonde man.

"See you around, guys!" Sora said his farewells to the Restoration Committee as he and his three friends left to board the Gummi Ship.

"Any idea to where we're going?" Michiru asked as he and the others took their seats in the ship and strapped themselves in.

"The Navigation Gummi should show us what paths are currently open to us," Donald answered, to which Michiru slowly nodded once in slight understanding as the Gummi Ship started to take off.

Once the ship had left Hollow Bastion, Michiru could only look out at the void in awe.

"Whoa…" the young onmyouji's attention was so captivated by the twinkling lights of the stars that he almost didn't catch a new voice practically shout out in alarm.

"Hey! What happened to Twilight Town?" the voice squeaked.

"It's gone!" a second voice said in equal concern, which brought back Michiru's attention.

"Who was that?" Michiru asked.

"Why that was Chip and Dale. They're the Gummi Ship operators at the castle," a third voice answered before a small green insect person jumped on the headrest of Sora's chair while holding a small book. "And my name is Jiminy Cricket. I was sent along with Donald and Goofy to record our journey."

"I see…" Michiru said slowly, knowing that he'd have to get used to creatures like Donald, Goofy and Jiminy. '_If I can get used to being around demons, I should get used to these guys easily. And at least Jiminy seems to be more reliable than Myoga._'

"I must say, it's a pleasure to meet you, Michiru. I'm certain you'll find the answers you're looking for on one of the worlds we visit," Jiminy assured the teen.

"Thanks, Jiminy," Michiru said with a grateful smile.

"Looks like only two paths are open right now," Sora said with a somewhat disappointed tone.

"Gwarsh, and neither of them look familiar either," Goofy said as Michiru looked at the monitor at the front of the ship.

The teen couldn't believe what he was seeing. Instead of perfectly spherical planets, one of the worlds looked like a castle while the other looked like some kind of palace that would fit right in Feudal Era.

"Which one should we go to first, Sora?" Donald asked.

"Hm… Let's go to that one," the boy answered as he set the course for the floating palace.

The ship's engines started up immediately and Michiru was pulled back into his seat as the vessel flew towards Sora's world of choice. The flight, however, wasn't as peaceful as Michiru hoped…

"We've got enemies incoming!" Dale warned over the ship's intercom.

Looking through the ship's monitor, the group saw dozens of other spacefaring vessels roughly the size of the Gummi Ship – some slightly larger – flying by and taking shots at the ship.

"What are those things?" Michiru wondered.

"Nobodies!" Sora gasped in surprise as he saw the markings on one of the ships that flew past them. "We've gotta take them down!"

Before Michiru could ask Sora how he planned to do that, the boy grabbed what looked like a steering wheel and began to manually fly the Gummi Ship, firing some kind of lasers at the Nobody ships, destroying them in a few shots.

"Incoming!" Donald shouted, pointing towards a larger Nobody vessel that began to take shots at the Gummi Ship.

Michiru grabbed onto his seat so as not to be thrown off as Sora sent their vessel into a spinning dodge to evade the attack before countering with the ship's lasers, these ones seemingly concentrated into beams, and destroyed the larger vessel in a few well-placed shots. The young onmyouji could only try to stay in his seat as the younger boy was flying the ship and shooting down the Nobodies like some kind of army pilot.

"Look! The keyhole!" Goofy called out as he pointed towards a faint outline of a keyhole not much farther from the ship.

"Alright, hang on!" Sora warned before activating what must have been the ship's boost to get a little extra speed, passing by the diminishing Nobody ships and flying right into the keyhole.

With no enemies in sight, the group found themselves within orbit of the world Sora set a course to.

"We made it!" Sora, Donald and Goofy cheered while Michiru steadily regained his bearings.

"You guys do this a lot?" Michiru asked.

"More or less," Sora answered as he looked back to the teen. "We had to go through a lot of Heartless ships to visit worlds a year ago, so I guess it's not surprising there'd be others – even Nobodies – still out here."

"Well, no time to waste. Let's head down there and see what we can find," Jiminy opted, to which the group of four nodded in agreement and got out of their seats.

Upon arriving on the world, the group of four found themselves in a bamboo thicket. Though knowing otherwise, Michiru felt like he was back in Japan somewhere, possibly even in the Feudal Era.

"Something wrong, Michiru?" Donald asked the teen.

"No, nothing's wrong," the onmyouji answered. "I'm sure this world isn't my home, but for some reason I feel… comfortable."

"Does your world look like this one?" Goofy asked.

"Not really. There are some forests like this, but not as much as this place anymore," Michiru said.

"Well if your world is similar to this one, maybe we're already on the right track to getting you home," Sora said, happy to help his new friend.

"Thanks guys," Michiru said with a quick nod as the group started walking through the thicket.

After some time of walking, and not finding any sign of civilization, Sora started to groan in disappointment. Then Goofy spotted something from the corner of his eye and stopped while Sora and Donald kept walking.

"Goofy?" Michiru questioned, his voice catching Sora's and Donald's attention as the two made their way back.

The group of four turned their attention to what Goofy was looking at and saw a person wearing a rather old set of armor, which Michiru compared to samurai armor from the Feudal Era but could tell it was something different, was facing a large stone with a shadowy figure on it.

"A Heartless?" Donald wondered, and as much as Michiru wanted to question it, he knew not to as he had done something similar a few times in the past concerning some demons and it nearly got him killed.

"Let's get the jump on 'im!" Sora decided.

But Goofy opted to take the safer route, "Gwarsh, maybe we better look before we leap."

Unfortunately for Goofy, Sora and Donald had already charged in. Michiru, not knowing what to do, decided to follow Sora's lead as he rushed after the key bearer and the duck. The boy and duck shouted a battle cry as they charged, catching the attention of the armored human and startling them. Michiru noticed a red lizard-like creature jump out from under the rock and into the person's arms as they cowered.

"Sora! Donald! Stop!" Michiru quickly called out to his new friends as the teen stopped running.

The two stopped immediately, almost falling over each other as Goofy walked up to them, "Is that Mushu?"

As Goofy spoke the name, the red lizard poked its head over the soldier's shoulder, "That's right, I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal, and legendary! Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!"

"Hey, Mushu! We missed you!" Sora greeted the lizard.

"Well you better _hope_ I miss _you_, or else you're— you're…" the lizard, identified as Mushu, cut himself off as he got a good look at the group. "…Sora! Donald! Goofy!"

"Do you know them/him?" the cowering soldier and Michiru asked in unison.

"_Know_ them!? Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together!" Mushu answered as he leapt off the soldier's back and walked towards the three before leaning against Sora's leg. "Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots. 'Cause I'm a mighty dragon! Right?"

The soldier looked up at Sora curiously as the boy moved his foot back, causing Mushu to fall over.

"Something like that," Sora answered.

"He helped us during our fight against the Heartless a year ago," Goofy told the onmyouji boy.

"I see," Michiru said in understanding.

"And… you are?" Sora asked the soldier.

"I'm Mulan," the soldier answered as he rose to his feet, but then started to clear his throat and… talk in a deeper voice? "Um, no, I-I mean…"

"Ping!" Mushu finished the soldier's sentence while raising a clawed finger.

"Mulan Ping?" Donald questioned.

"Just… Ping," the soldier corrected. "I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou."

"Huh… Kinda sounds like that'd be a Chinese name…" Michiru quietly noted to himself.

"You know Mushu?" Sora asked.

"Mushu's one of my family's guardians," "Ping" answered.

"We didn't know we were borrowin' somebody as important as a family guardian," Goofy apologized.

"Yeah, that's right!" Mushu said with an inflating ego before scurrying back to "Ping" and climbing up the back of the soldier's armor to rest on "his" shoulder. "And that puts you four up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here. Wait… four?"

"Ah, right. This is Michiru," Sora introduced the teen to the puny dragon. "We're trying to help him get home."

"Hi there," Michiru said as he raised his hand.

"I haven't seen you around here before. You have a very strange style of clothing," "Ping" pointed out, looking over Michiru's school uniform.

"Well, I'm from far away and kinda got lost, so these three agreed to help me," Michiru said in half truth.

"Well that's all well and good and I hope you find your home," Mushu said before getting back to his topic. "But, guess what, kiddies? It's payback time!"

"Ping" seemed to have whispered something to the tiny dragon, but from the look in the soldier's eyes, Michiru had a feeling he didn't want to get the four of them involved.

"Ah, they don't mind," Mushu assured the soldier before returning his attention to the group of four. "Ain't that right?"

"Hmm, sounds fair," Sora agreed without much thought on the matter.

"See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial Army," Mushu said before scurrying to "Ping's" other shoulder. "We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp."

"Would you join us?" "Ping" asked. "It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you."

"What do you mean, "fit in"?" Sora questioned, and that was when both Michiru and Goofy knew what was going on.

Mushu cleared his throat to try and drop the subject, "Well, um, uh, don't— don't worry about that."

"You're pretendin' to be a boy, aren't ya?" Goofy questioned.

Though it took a while, Sora and Donald nearly flipped in surprise at the revelation.

"You're a… girl?" Sora asked, just to be certain.

No longer hiding her disguise, "Ping" put her hands together in a bit of embarrassment, but also seemed a little hopeful, "You didn't notice?"

"Not me," Sora said as he and Donald shook their heads.

"I think it's working," "Ping" said to Mushu.

"I don't know—those two would fall for anything," Mushu said.

"I'm right here!" Sora retorted, feeling insulted.

"But I have to ask, why would a girl pretend to be a boy to join the army?" Michiru questioned.

"Well, it's law that only men can join the army," "Ping" answered. "My father was asked to join, but he's too old and injured to fight, so I decided to disguise myself as a boy to take his place."

"For your family…" Michiru noted quietly, being reminded not only of his own mother and father, but of his ancestors Utsugi and Kakuju, to which the teen gently reached for the amulet around his neck. "By the way, is Ping your real name?"

"Oh, no. You guys can call me Mulan," the girl properly introduced herself. "But while we're around the other soldiers, could I ask you to refer to me as Ping? I don't even want to think of what they'd do if they found out I'm really a girl."

"Sure thing. Our lips are sealed," Goofy assured as he moved his hand over his mouth as if pulling a zipper.

"Thank you," Mulan said before leading the way to the recruitment camp.

"So Michiru, what _is_ that thing around your neck anyway?" Sora asked.

"This?" Michiru said as he looked down at the amulet he was clutching. "It's something that was given to me from my ancestors."

The amulet in question had a rather mystical design to it. At its center was a stone that would glow with various colours and etched into the amulet to surround the stone was the red Shikigami pentagram seen on the Shikigami Disc that Michiru once had which now acts at the keychain token for his Keyblade.

"It's very important to me," Michiru continued. "In fact, believe it or not, it even saved my life once."

"Wait, aren't we supposed to be following Mulan?" Donald asked.

Michiru and Sora turned their attention away from the amulet before scratching the back of their heads in embarrassment.

"Sorry, got a little distracted," the two boys said before looking at each other and laughing.

"Let's get moving," Sora opted, with Michiru nodding in agreement.

The group of four made their way out of the bamboo grove and met up with Mulan and Mushu, who politely waited for them before they all made their way towards the Imperial camp. Upon seeing a few of the other soldiers, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Michiru casually walked towards them. Though Mushu had another idea for Mulan.

"Remember, girl—man-ly!" the diminutive dragon told the girl.

Nodding once, Mulan stiffened her back and… started to walk rather awkwardly. When Michiru glanced back to see how Mulan was doing, he could barely keep himself from tripping over at the girl's ridiculous display. The boy waited for her to walk by him before asking her the obvious question.

"Why are you walking like that?" Michiru aked.

"Don't all men walk like this?" Mulan asked back.

Michiru could only slap himself in the face, "No, guys don't walk like that. I've never met a man who ever walked like that. Just walk naturally. You should be fine."

"Are you sure?" Mulan questioned.

"Hey, who's the family guardian here?" Mushu tried to argue with the onmyouji.

"And who's actually a _guy_ here?" Michiru countered before returning his attention to Mulan. "Just trust me on this, it'll make things a bit easier for you."

"A-Alright," the girl accepted hesitantly as the two walked normally to catch up with the other three, who had stopped at the back of a line.

But Michiru could already tell things weren't going to go so smoothly once he saw a rather short yet muscular man push Sora out of the way and take the boy's spot in line.

"'Bout time we got some grub," the short man thought aloud.

"Hey, no cutting!" Sora said to the man.

"Get out!" Donald shouted.

Unfortunately that didn't go the two planned as the short man turned around and sucker-punched Sora, sending the boy to the ground. Michiru and Mulan then ran to the key bearer's side to help him up.

"What was _that_ for!?" Michiru questioned the shorter man, to which Michiru noticed he had a black eye.

The man just sneered before turning his back to the group. This really got Donald's feathers ruffled as the duck started muttering angrily to himself while pulling up his sleeves before jumping at the man, knocking the human over and landing on top of him.

"Back off!" the man snapped as he and Donald began to fight.

"Donald, knock it off! We shouldn't be starting any trouble!" Michiru tried to get the duck to back off while Goofy and Mulan didn't know how to handle the situation, which was starting to get worse as two other people pushed the smaller man out of the line.

"Hey, a space in line!" a rather scrawny man said, but was then pushed out of the way by a very hefty man who was rubbing his stomach through his armor.

"I wonder what they're serving for lunch today," the larger man thought aloud in a rather quiet voice.

"Knuckle sandwiches!" the shorter man said before jumping at the scrawny man while Donald squawked and jumped after him.

"That does it!" Sora shouted after getting back on his feet… only to join the fight by jumping between the others and was soon joined by Goofy.

Seeing only one way to possibly stop the guys fighting, Michiru closed his eyes and began to concentrate as the red Shikigami pentagram slowly appeared beneath him while turning green.

"Please!" Mulan said, trying to get their attention, which actually worked and also broke Michiru's concentration, causing the pentagram beneath him to fade away.

"Please!" the scrawny man repeated, as though he had never heard the word before.

"What a girl!" the shorter man said as an insult.

Noticing her mistake, Mulan quickly stiffened her back a bit and deepened her voice, "Uh...knock it off!"

"Knock what off?" the shorter man feigned ignorance.

"You punched me!" Sora said.

"Cutting in line!" Donald added.

"What a shrimp!" this time the scrawnier man joined in insulting his fellow soldier, unfortunately a certain _someone_ took the insult more personally.

"Who you callin' a shrimp, panda lips? I'm a bona fide guardian dragon!" Mushu snapped as the lizard poked his head out of Mulan's armor.

"Look, let's all just get back in line before we, I don't know… get kicked out of the army or something," Michiru suggested, which seemed to have an effect on the three armored humans.

Sora, however, seemed hurt by Michiru's suggestion, "Whose side are you on? I just got slugged!"

"Want some more?" the shorter man asked the boy, a little more than eager to start another fight.

Just as Michiru was going to try telling the group off, someone else ended up doing so for him, "Soldiers! Get back in line!"

The group looked in the direction of the voice to see another man wearing armor walking towards them, but unlike the rest of the soldiers, he was also wearing a red cape and quite clearly had the look of a leader.

"The Captain!" the scrawny man said with a hint of fear as the group finally stopped squabbling and quickly got in line with Michiru and Mulan taking the back.

The captain walked towards the group and slowly shifted his gaze between each of them as if in warning before walking towards the front of the line. But once the captain was out of sight, Sora leaned out of the line and shook his fist at the shorter man.

"Sora, this isn't the time!" Michiru whispered, trying to keep his new friend from getting them into trouble.

But soon the two key bearers gasped in surprise as a group of Shadow Heartless suddenly manifested within the camp.

"What are they?" Mulan asked.

"Heartless!" Sora answered as the boy summoned his Keyblade.

"Oh yeah?" the scrawny soldier scoffed as he and the shorter man cracked their knuckles… only to run off with the larger man right behind them, but some of the remaining soldiers as well as the captain drew their swords to help fight.

"Ping, I hope you're ready!" Sora warned as Mulan drew her sword.

'_The Keyblade responds to the will of the heart…_' Michiru thought to himself, remembering what Merlin told him as the teen held out his right arm. '_Come to me… Keyblade!_'

In response, Michiru's ornate Keyblade appeared in his hand in a flash of light. Holding the weapon in a stance similar to a samurai holding a katana, Michiru charged at the Heartless alongside Sora and Mulan while Donald stayed back and started launching magic with Goofy chucking his shield like a frisbee. Appearing along with the Shadow Heartless were what looked like Jiang Shi from Chinese myths with the Heartless emblem on the parchment that covered their faces. Appearing around these new Heartless was some kind of ghostly blue flame, which the Nightwalker Heartless used as a means to attack by launching the fire at the group of five.

"These things can use magic?" Mulan asked in surprise.

"They're not the only ones!" Sora said as he pointed the tip of his Keyblade at the Heartless. "**Fire!**_**"**_

"Sora, wait!" Michiru warned, but was too late as the fireball was shot at the Heartless.

Much to Sora's dismay, the fire had no effect on the Nightwalker other than strengthening its own ghostly fire.

"What the?" Sora gasped.

"If an enemy attacks with fire, then it'd be safe to assume they'd get stronger from it," Michiru chastised his friend.

Sora could only groan in self-disappointment, "I should've known that…"

"But that means we'd have to take it out head-on, but how can we if it's covered in fire?" Mulan asked as she continued to cut down the Shadow Heartless.

"Let me take care of that," the teenage boy said as the Shikigami pentagram appeared beneath him again, once more changing green. "Oh overflowing blue sky! Let ring your silent voice! **Sealed Blue Sky!**"

As Michiru finished his chant, his body was enveloped by a strong gale and the teen held out his left arm, aiming his hand at the Nightwalker who was preparing to launch another attack. The Heartless and the onmyouji both fired, but the teen's gust of wind easily dispelled the flames and soon trapped the Heartless, causing the flames surrounding it to dissipate and trapping the Nightwalker.

"Go for it, Sora!" Michiru told his friend, to which the young key bearer charged at the Nightwalker and used a combination of strikes from his Keyblade to destroy the Heartless.

Meanwhile, Michiru, Mulan, Donald, and Goofy finished cleaning up the rest of the Shadow Heartless until the encampment was cleared.

With the fight now over, Sora and Michiru dispelled their Keyblades as the captain called the group to his tent with his attention on Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Michiru, "You four. What are your names?"

"Sora."

"Donald."

"Goofy."

"Michiru."

"You're welcome in my troop," the captain said with acceptance. "Your battle skills are encouraging."

Wanting to get some recognition as well, Mulan spoke up, "I am the son of Fa Zhou—"

"You should return home," the captain interrupted without even glancing at Mulan.

"B-but… That would dishonor my family!" Mulan tried to argue.

"You'd rather dishonor my troops?" the captain asked with a glare at the girl.

"Don't make me—!" Mulan started, but was quick to stop when the captain stared her down.

"Excuse me sir, if I may," Michiru spoke up to get the captain's attention. "I'm sure that if Ping trains hard enough and does his best, he'll get stronger in no time."

"Hmm…" the captain thought on the teen's words.

"Just give us an assignment!" Sora said eagerly. "We'll show you how well we can work together."

Donald, Goofy, and Michiru nodded in agreement as the captain caught on to what Sora was saying, "So…you want to be tested?" the captain then closed his eyes for a moment, as if thinking on what to assign the group, before opening his eyes. "Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here. They should be coming through the mountain pass."

"We'll smash them!" Donald said rather enthusiastically.

The captain could only scoff, "I doubt that. You five will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops."

"That's it? No problem," Sora said nonchalantly as he put his hands behind his head. "Right?"

Michiru, though, didn't seem so eager about the assignment, "Don't be so sure, Sora. Trust me, sometimes the really bad stuff can happen during something seemingly easy."

"I'll brief you on the details later," the captain told the group. "Return when you're ready to depart. Remember, the smallest mission may have the greatest purpose. Stay alert!"

"Sir!" the group of five said in unison.

Once the captain entered his tent, the group of five stepped away for a moment to rest up a little bit after their fight with the Heartless.

"So Michiru, what did you mean that the bad stuff can happen with something so easy?" Sora questioned.

"Well… it happened a while back. I decided to leave my friends behind and do some investigating on my own. I ended up getting a lead to a mountain where I ran into a monster," Michiru explained. "It was just a small one though, so I thought it'd be fine. But every time I defeated it, it would just get back up bigger and stronger. It would've killed me if my friends hadn't found me and saved me."

"Gwarsh, well it's not like you'll be going alone this time," Goofy said to lift Michiru's spirits. "We're all going too."

"Goofy's right. As long as we stick together, we should be fine," Sora agreed.

Michiru couldn't help but smile, "Thanks guys." The onmyouji then turned his attention to Mulan. "Are you ready to start the assignment, Ping?"

"Huh? Oh, of course," Mulan said, almost forgetting to keep up her disguise in the camp with her new friends around.

After their quick moment to rest up, the group went back to the captain's tent and requested for the assignment briefing. Upon stepping out of the tent, the captain got straight to business.

"Your mission is to secure the path over the summit so our company can pass," the captain told the group. "I've authorized you to be let through to the summit. Don't let me down!"

"Sir!" the group of five saluted.

With a confirming nod, the captain returned to his tent, likely to formulate a strategy for the battle once the group accomplished their assignment.

"So we just have to make sure the road is clear," Donald summarized.

"Seems like it," Sora said. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"Do you know the way to the mountain?" Michiru directed his question to Mulan.

"Yes," the girl answered with a nod. "The path is a few ways from this camp and then past the city checkpoint. I'll even lead the way for you guys."

"Gwarsh, that's pretty kind of you," Goofy said.

"It's the least I could do for you guys after helping me," Mulan smiled. "Now let's get going."

"Right," the other four said with a nod before following Mulan out of the camp.

As Mulan had said, the trek from the encampment to the checkpoint was a fair distance away, though at least it would keep some fighting away from the city. Upon reaching the checkpoint, Mulan pointed to a path on the other side of a nearby river.

"The road to the mountain is just over there," Mulan said. "But if Shan-Yu really is nearby, he might have troops placed nearby."

"Shan-Yu is the leader of the enemy forces?" Michiru asked out of curiosity.

"That's right," Mulan nodded. "He's the leader of the Huns and wants to take over the city, from what I've heard."

"That doesn't leave us with much time to waste," Mushu said, popping up from Mulan's armor. "So why are you all standing around? Let's get to that mountain!"

With wordless nods, the group of five made their way across the relatively shallow river and up the path towards the mountains. Along the way, the group encountered several Heartless, though nothing more than Shadows and Soldiers, which were easily dealt with between the five. As they continued up the mountain, they heard the cry of a bird and saw a falcon flying overhead. Paying it no mind, the group continued onward only to run into more Heartless, this time encountering some more Nightwalkers.

"More of these guys?" Michiru said annoyingly as he and Sora summoned their Keyblades while Mulan drew her sword.

"You kinda get used to it, but it does get a bit irritating after a while," Sora remarked before charging at the Heartless.

As the group attacked the Heartless, with Donald using his magic to destroy the Shadows and help from Goofy to take out the Soldiers, Sora, Michiru, and Mulan attacked the Nightwalkers full-force to prevent the undead Heartless from casting their ghost fire. This didn't work as well as the three hoped as the Nightwalkers proved they also had close-combat capabilities by using their clawed hands in spinning motions and swipes. But with deft parries, dodges and counters, the group was able to defeat their enemies as they worked their way up the mountain. But while on their way up, a new Heartless manifested to block the group's path, this one appearing like an armored centaur carrying a large spear.

"How should we fight this one?" Mulan asked.

"Donald, try hitting it with some magic!" Sora suggested.

"Got it!" the duck nodded before raising his staff. "**Thunder!**"

The tip of the staff gave a faint glow before a bolt of lightning came down and struck the Heartless, causing its body to stiffen. But once the electric sparks faded from its body, the Assault Rider Heartless began to charge at the group while swinging its staff around. Michiru and Mulan were able to dive out of the way while Sora jumped to higher ground. Donald opted to run behind some rocks for cover and Goofy, while jumping aside, raised his shield to deflect the Heartless' weapon and successfully pushed the creature to another direction. Though the Heartless was able to stop itself before it went too far and turned itself around the face the group again.

"Okay… So magic only seems to make it mad," Michiru pointed out.

"Then we'll have to take it out head-on," Sora said.

"Something that big? Somehow I doubt it'll give us a chance to even hit it," Mulan said.

"Let's try to distract it. Maybe we can get it to defeat itself somehow," Michiru suggested.

"Worth a shot," Sora said before charging at the creature with his Keyblade with Michiru following after, Mulan opting to stay back alongside Donald and Goofy, the latter throwing his shield towards the creature as a means to grab its attention.

Following Goofy's airborne shield, the two key bearers went for their attack with Sora leaping at the Heartless while Michiru ran to the Assault Rider's side and started taking swings. The two had to jump back in order to avoid the large spear the Heartless carried.

"Shikigami, attack!" Michiru shouted as he swung his Keyblade, launching a ball of red spiritual energy from the weapon that slammed into the Heartless, causing it to reel back.

"Hey, looks like it can't stand up to that Shikigami of yours," Sora noted.

"If that's the case…" Michiru started before holding out his left hand. "Sora, keep that thing off me. I'm want to see if this'll work."

"Got it," the younger boy nodded before charging at the Heartless again just as the creature recovered from Michiru's attack.

"Oh flame burning bright!" Michiru started his chant as the red Shikigami pentagram appeared beneath him again. "Turn into a sword of wrath! **Raging Flame!**"

As the pentagram faded, the glowing red katana the onmyouji had used against the Nobodies at Hollow Bastion materialized in his hand, allowing the teen to grab the hilt.

"I'm coming through, Sora!" Michiru called out to his friend, to which Sora jumped back after dodging and parrying the centaur Heartless' attacks.

"All yours!" the boy said, to which Michiru charged at the Assault Rider with both of his weapons and attacked with a flurry of slashes.

But with the sheer size of the creature and its weapon, Michiru wasn't able to get many hits through with his weapons and finally opted to back off.

"That thing knows how to take a hit," Sora noted as the Heartless barely appeared injured from the attacks.

"Alright then, I guess making it beat itself is the only choice. And I've got just the thing," Michiru said.

"You need some time?" Sora asked, reminding of their first fight against a Nightwalker.

"Not really since my Shikigami's already been charged," Michiru answered as his Shikigami blade vanished from his hand and the pentagram appeared beneath his feet again, once more turning green. "Oh overflowing blue sky! Fill this space with chaos! **Blue Sky Confusion!**"

The onmyouji teen then held out his left arm as if clutching a baseball as a sphere of wind appeared in his hand. But before Michiru could throw it, Sora pulled him to the side to avoid another charge from the Assault Rider.

"That was close!" Sora said.

"I guess I'm just used to being able to use my Shikigami without being the target," Michiru stated, remembering how his friends in the Feudal Era would always be attacking the demons and taking their attention away from the teen, allowing him to freely use his powers. "I'm going to have to get close for this one."

"How close?" the younger key bearer asked.

"Up in his face," the teen answered.

"Alright then," Sora nodded. "Donald! Goofy! Mulan! Keep that Heartless off us!"

"Got it/Understood!" the three said together just before the Assault Rider was struck by Goofy's shield and another magic burst from Donald.

"I'll go in first to make sure it doesn't notice you," Sora told the teen, to which Michiru nodded and soon followed the boy towards the others.

Once the Heartless and the other three were in sight, Sora charged in and joined Mulan in making hit-and-run strikes with their weapons while Donald drew its attention with his magic and Goofy kept the creature distracted with his shield. Once Michiru saw his opening, he clutch the air sphere in his left hand and rushed at the Heartless, jumping onto its back and quickly pushing the sphere into the beast's head, surrounding it in the ball of air. Before the Heartless could start bucking like a mad bull, Michiru jumped off its back and joined the others as the creature started to go wild, charging all over the place and ramming itself into cliffs before eventually throwing itself off the mountain and falling to its death.

"Man, that thing was tough," Sora finally started panting in exhaustion from the fight.

"I'm really not looking forward to fighting any more of _those_ things," Michiru said, falling on his butt.

"I agree," Mulan said, though she, Donald and Goofy weren't as out of breathe as the two key bearers since the three of them stayed back until the Heartless charged at them. "But we have a mission to finish."

"Right… Donald, could you get us back on our feet?"

With a nod, the duck raised his staff again, "**Heal!**"

A wave of soothing magic washed over the key bearers and suddenly their exhaustion was gone as the two of them rose to their feet with renewed vigor.

"Some kind of restoration magic?" Michiru asked curiously.

"Uh-huh," Donald nodded. "It'll heal some injuries and restore a bit of strength. But like all magic, if used too much, I'll be too tired to do anything."

"Good to know," the onmyouji noted before grinning. "We'll try and keep you from resorting to that as much as possible."

"It shouldn't be much farther to the summit," Mulan pointed out. "We should hurry."

With another nod from the other four, the group continued their way up the mountain with nary a Heartless in sight. Once they started to see snow along the trail, the group heard footsteps approaching behind them and the group turned around to see three men from earlier coming up behind them.

"Hey, you ain't half bad," the shorter man said once the three stopped in front of the group.

"A man among men!" the scrawny man said.

"Thanks!" Mulan said, remembering to go back to her deeper voice before the three men continued up the mountain. "But the Captain…"

"Captain!" Sora suddenly called out, causing Mulan to look up and quickly stiffen her back as the captain came up the path with a few soldiers, a likely indication the rest weren't far behind.

"Ping sure did great!" Goofy quickly told the captain.

"You bet he did!" Donald followed up.

"If it wasn't for his guidance, we probably wouldn't have been able to beat some of the Heartless on the way here," Michiru exaggerated, hoping it'd get the captain to approve of Mulan.

"Hmm… Fine. I'll let you join my troops…" the captain seemed to reluctantly give in. "But I'm still not convinced you have what it takes to be a worthy soldier."

"Why not!?" Sora snapped. "Ping did a great job against the Heartless! How can you say he doesn't have what it takes!?"

"It's all right, Sora," Mulan tried to calm the boy down. "I'll find a way to show him what I'm made of. Just give me a chance."

"That's the spirit, Ping," the captain said with what looked like an amused smirk on his face.

"Sir!" Mulan said with a saulte before the captain and the men with him continued their way up the mountain.

"Well there's some good news. Looks like he's starting to take notice," Michiru said to Mulan.

"Good going, Ping!" a voice called out and the group looked up the path to see the same three men from before coming back down.

"Thanks!" Mulan said with a slight bow of her head.

Once the group of three made their way back up the mountain, Michiru and the others followed suit until they reached what seemed to be an army outpost. Deciding to take the moment to rest after the fight with the Assault Rider, the group of five headed away from the rest of the troops to speak in private as Mushu slithered out of Mulan's armor.

"Okay, girl! Here's your chance!" the small dragon said with excitement. "I managed to spot this real shady guy. And I know it's Shan-Yu."

"Shan-Yu!?" Mulan repeated, jumping back in surprised along with the rest of the group.

"That's the Hun leader!" Sora noted.

"So he really _is_ hiding up here somewhere," Michiru thought aloud. "We should probably notify the Captain."

"Right!" Mulan nodded in agreement.

"Waaaait wait-wait-wait WAIT!" Mushu said quickly to stop the group. "Everybody use their heads a sec. Now, why are we here? To see the Captain see Mulan's—I mean Pin's talents and bring honor to her family. So, let's go find out where Shan-Yu is, by ourselves. Then, if we're lucky, we can fry him up good! Though just tracking the guy down should earn us our stars… Captain Musclehead will _have_ to notice my girl!"

"I don't know, it doesn't seem like such a good idea," Michiru tried to get the group to back out. "If we _do_ happen to find Shan-Yu, what if he spots us? Exactly how well would we do against him if we have to fight the guy? I'm not saying I don't have confidence in our own abilities, but if this guy can lead an army that's ready to take down a city, he's gotta be a good warrior."

"Y'know, Michiru's got a point," Goofy said. "If we're not prepared, it'd be dangerous to try and fight Shan-Yu without backup."

"I think we should go," Mulan said. "If we can at least find him without him spotting us, it should be more than enough."

Though Michiru and Goofy didn't seem too keen on the idea, Sora chose to side with Mulan, "I'm going to agree with you. As long as we're careful, we shouldn't have any problems."

"Now we're cookin'!" Mushu said excitedly. "I think I spotted Shan-Yu heading to a cave outside the village! If we leave now, we just might catch him!"

Finally giving in, Michiru and Goofy nodded along with Sora, Donald, and Mulan. Once the group had their moment to rest up, the five of them snuck past the other soldiers and left the village, heading towards the nearby cave. Once they reached the cave and went inside to the very back however, they didn't see any trace of Shan-Yu. All that was in the cave was something that looked like a small shrine.

"Dead end," Sora said.

"There's nobody here…" Donald said as the duck looked around the enclosed room.

"You're crazy. Check again!" Mushu pushed.

"Check where? We're in only ones in here," Michiru said with a bit of relief.

"Oh well," Donald sighed before turning around to leave the cave.

"Wait for me, Donald!" Goofy called after his friend and followed after the duck.

"Hey, wait up!" Sora called after his two friends as they left the cave, but then the cave began to rumble.

"What the?" Michiru wondered.

"What? What is it?" Mushu asked.

"Something feels wrong…" Michiru said before let out a sharp gasp and turning around to see a magical barrier had erected itself to close off the room, preventing Donald and Goofy from entering as the two came running back due to the noise.

"Sora/Ping!" the two called out.

From around the corner behind Donald and Goofy, Michiru could've sworn he saw a figure in the shadow for a brief moment. But before the onmyouji could see who it was, Heartless began to spawn around them.

"They set a trap!" Sora exclaimed as some Shadow Heartless appeared from the floor and an Assault Rider Heartless manifested out of thin air. "Not these guys again!"

"You two just focus of the smaller ones, we know it'll be easier to beat the big guy with my Shikigami," the teen pointed out, two which Sora and Mulan nodded in agreement before charging at the Shadows while the Shikigami pentagram appeared under Michiru's feet again. "Oh overflowing blue sky! Fill this space with chaos! **Blue Sky Confusion!**"

Once more a sphere of wind manifested in Michiru's left hand, but the onmyouji was forced to dive out of the way from the Assault Rider's charge. Clutching both his Keyblade and the ball of air, Michiru took slow steps back and then jumped back when the larger Heartless started swinging its spear.

'_Damn, I won't be able to get close enough at this rate. If only the others were here to help,_' Michiru thought to himself, but soon lost his train of thought as the Assault Rider managed to strike the teen and send him flying into the cave wall. "Gah!"

"Michiru!" Sora and Mulan called out before deciding to ignore the Shadows and take care of the bigger problem first, charging at the Assault Rider from behind with their Keyblade and sword.

The duo were able to get a few good hits against the larger Heartless, turning its attention away from Michiru as the teen slowly got back to his feet, still holding the sphere in his left hand and the Keyblade in his right. Seeing Sora and Mulan fighting the Assault Rider, the onmyouji nodded a silent thank you before rushing at the Heartless and, like before, jumping onto its back and thrusting the ball of wind into the Assault Rider's head. Sora and Mulan jumped back as Michiru jumped off to join them just as the Assault Rider started bucking like mad again, swinging its spear around wildly and destroying the smaller Shadow Heartless itself. When the creature tried to charge, it ended up ramming itself into the cave walls.

"Let's finish it," Sora said to Michiru.

"Got it," the onmyouji nodded in agreement as they both held out their Keyblades.

"**Fire!**/Shikigami, attack!" the two shouted and they launched their magic and spiritual attacks at the confused Heartless, managing to destroy it due to the damage dealt by Sora and Mulan along with the creature injuring itself.

With the room cleared of Heartless, the barrier sealing the room faded away, allowing Donald and Goofy to rejoin the group.

"Nice fighting, Ping! You were amazing," Sora told the girl.

"You okay?" Goofy asked the three humans.

"Yeah, thanks to Ping and Sora," Michiru said.

"Hey, you did pretty good too," Sora pointed out. "But I think we can both agree that Ping did the best in that fight."

"You won't hear me argue there," the teen said with a short laugh.

"C'mon! Time to report to the Captain!" Mushu urged.

"But Shan-Yu wasn't here," Mulan pointed out.

"Please! That Hun is old news!" Mushu waved off. "We're going to tell the Captain how thousands of Heartless stormed the cave, and Ping took out almost every one of 'em!"

"I don't know, I kinda doubt he'd buy an exaggeration like that," the onmyouji said. "But we should at least tell him how Mulan handled herself."

The group then made their way out of the cave and back towards the village, but when they got closer, they noticed the village had been burned down. They could only look on at the devastation. When Mulan walked into the burned village, she saw an injured Captain Li Shang sitting against the wall and slowly rising to his feet.

"Captain!" Mulan called out in worry as she ran to his side with the rest of the group following her.

"Don't overdo it, Captain!" Sora said as the captain seemed to be struggling to keep himself up.

"It's just a scratch," Li Shang assured them, but then groaned as he fell to his knees.

"Hold on, let me take care of that," Michiru offered as the teen knelt down to Li's level and the Shikigami pentagram appeared beneath both of them, this time changing from red to blue. "Oh flowing mighty river! Give me your blessing! **Great River Offering!**"

As the onmyouji finished his chant, his hands were enveloped in blue Shikigami energy before placing them over the captain's injury, slowly healing it.

"Captain, the enemy! Where did they go?" Mulan questioned.

"They went toward the summit…" Li groaned.

"We'll stop them!" Mulan assured.

"It kinda _is_ out fault," Goofy said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Right," Mulan nodded in agreement before glancing down at Mushu.

"You mean _my_ fault," the dragon sighed.

"Uh-uh!" Donald denied the red lizard.

"Shan-Yu and the Heartless did this, not us!" Sora stated before kneeling down. "Captain, if you track down the villagers, we'll handle this."

Li nodded in acceptance as Michiru pulled his hands away from the captain's injury, the blue glow fading from them as the wound had closed, "That should do it. Just try not to strain yourself."

As Michiru and Sora rose to their feet, the group looked towards the path leading to the summit.

"Lets go," Sora said with determination.

The rest of the group nodded in silent agreement before leaving the ruined village and making their way to the mountain's summit. Along the way the group of five encounter groups of Heartless, though nothing more than Shadows, which were easily defeated. Upon reaching the summit of the mountain, the group saw a figure standing alone further up as a falcon flew overhead before landing on the figure's shoulder as it stood up. But then, slowing encroaching behind the figure were what seemed to be hundreds of small flying Heartless that somewhat resembled torpedoes by their shape.

"Shan-Yu!" Mulan identified the figure.

"So _that's_ the Hun leader?" Michiru asked.

"Attack!" Shan-Yu commanded the Heartless with a swing of his sword.

In response, the swarm of Heartless flew down the mountain towards the group as the five gripped their weapons, ready for battle.

"Split up and draw their attention! Try and make them disperse!" Sora told the group.

"Right!" the other four agreed before running across the summit, calling out and using attacks to draw some of the Heartless to them.

Of the entire group, Donald probably had the best advantage against the airborne enemies with his Thunder magic while Sora leapt into the air, using a combination of Keyblade strike with his Fire and Blizzard magic. Goofy, as usual, was throwing his shield around to hit the Rapid Thruster Heartless while Michiru opted to throw some of his Shikigami energy as well as swing his Keyblade to defeat the Heartless. Mulan had the most difficult time, lacking the acrobatics that Sora had and with no skills in magic, instead having to get the flying creatures to charge at her in order to cut them down with her sword.

"There's too many of them!" Goofy shouted.

"Looks like I'll have to…" Michiru said to himself before turning his attention to the others. "Everyone get down!"

Wondering what Michiru meant, but knowing now wasn't the time to argue with the Heartless swarm, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan crouched or dove into the snow as the familiar red pentagram appeared beneath the onmyouji's feet.

"Oh flame burning bright! Shine your judgment upon us!" Michiru chanted quickly as he raised he Keyblade to the swarm of flying Heartless. "**Flame of Judgment!**"

Launching from the tip of the ornate Keyblade was a blast of Shikigami energy that flew at the Heartless swarm and struck, creating an explosion of spiritual power that engulfed the creatures and destroyed them. Having used so much energy for the technique, Michiru dropped to his knees in exhaustion.

"Now _that_'s some serious firepower!" Mushu exclaimed in amazement.

"You okay, Michiru?" Sora asked as the group ran up to the onmyouji.

"I'll be fine," the teen said as he raised his hand. "Just need some rest."

"Uh oh," Goofy interrupted. "I don't think we'll have time!"

Everyone looked up the mountain and saw another swarm of the Rapid Thruster Heartless appear behind Shan-Yu. The Hun leader let out a battle cry and charged down the mountain towards the group with the Heartless following right behind. As Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan readied their weapons while keeping the tired onmyouji behind them, some unexpected allies walked up next to them.

"Stand back!" said the short man from before, known as Yao, as the scrawny Ling and the quite hefty Chien-Po followed him.

"We'll handle this!" Ling assured the group as Yao, who been carrying a cannon with him, set the weapon in the ground to aim at Shan-Yu.

But an idea suddenly came to Mulan and she managed to shove Yao aside, "Sorry!"

The disguised soldier then grabbed the cannon and ran further up the mountain before planting it in the ground and aiming it at the mountain's peak.

"What's Ping trying to do?" Donald asked as Michiru's eyes followed the path of where the cannon was aimed, his eyes soon widening.

"We need to find some cover! Fast!" the onmyouji explained in panic and pointed at the mountain when the rest of the group looked at the teen in confusion.

At the same time, Mulan had grabbed Mushu and squeezed him in her hands, causing the small dragon to breathe fire and ignite the cannon, soon launching it with the poor dragon on the cannon's head.

"You're going the wrong way!" Mushu cried out as the cannon carried him to the mountain's peak.

Upon impact, the cannon started an avalanche, to which Mulan congratulated herself, "Yes!"

"Captain?" Sora questioned with surprise as Captain Shang and two other Imperial soldiers made their way towards the group.

"Talk about bad timing, we need to get off this mountain!" Michiru panicked.

Mulan was also in a state of panic, looking at Shang, to the mountain, and back at Shang before jumping to her feet and running towards the captain, "Look out!"

As the avalanche made its way down the mountain, the Heartless swarm was quickly buried with Shang-Yu quickly sharing their fate. Mulan grabbed Captain Li Shang's arm and made a run for it with the rest of the group and the few Imperial soldiers following close behind to escape the avalanche, getting to safety just as the avalanche cascaded down the side of the mountain. Everyone was panting heavily as they slowly got back up after concluding they were safe.

"Thanks, Ping," Shang said to Mulan.

"It… was nothing," Mulan answered, remembering to keep her voice deepend when speaking around the troops before the two rose to their feet.

"I should never have doubted you," Shang finally said. "From now on, you have my trust."

"Thank you, Captain," Mulan said with a bit of pride.

Seeing Mulan and Shang finally getting along, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Michiru couldn't help but smile. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long…

Mushu managed to pull himself out of the snow and walked towards Mulan, "First she uses me as a lighter, then she turns me into a cannon ball. The head ancestor's gonna hear about this. You know, that's it! I give up! I can't take this no more. C'mon, Mulan. Let's quit this charade and go home, girl."

"Mushu!" Mulan said sternly through her teeth, to which Mushu turned his attention to Shang.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were completely silent from what Mushu just did, knowing the dragon had just screwed up everything for Mulan while Michiru slapped himself in the face and groaned, "Oh no…"

Realizing his mistake, Mushu gasped and quickly covered his mouth, but the damage had already been done.

"Mulan?" Shang repeated before quickly turning his attention to the girl with a fierce glare. "A woman? It can't be!"

"Ping! Captain!" Sora called out.

"Sora, you probably shouldn't…" Michiru tried to stop his new friend.

"You all knew, didn't you?" Shang questioned the group. "You knew Ping was really a woman in disguise." The group of four had nothing to respond with, and so looked away as Shang turned his attention back to Mulan. "I can't believe you lied to me. The punishment for high treason and dishonoring the Army… is death."

Mulan slowly turned around to face the captain, her eyes widened in what was likely fear as she awaited what was to come. As much as he wanted to say something, Michiru knew he'd be out of place because if this world was anything like the Feudal Era, a woman in the army _was_ dishonorable no matter how skilled they were.

"Get out of my sight…now," Shang threatened. "You're all dismissed."

"But Captain…" Sora tried to say something, but his voice trailed off.

"My debt is repaid," Shang said before leaving down the mountain path, soon followed by Yao, Ling, Chien-Po, and the other few soldiers that were with him while Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Michiru walked up to Mulan.

Mulan let out a disappointed sigh as Mushu scurried up her armor," Mulan… I blew it."

The girl just shook her head, as if saying there was no need to apologize. She then proceeded to remove her armor and place it in the snow before undoing her hair, letting it fall to her shoulders.

Mulan then turned around to face her friends, "Thank you, everyone. Sorry I got you in trouble."

"It's no big deal," Sora shrugged off.

"Yeah, I'm kinda used to getting into trouble by now," Michiru said as he rubbed the back of his head, reminded once more of his travels in the Feudal Era. "So what will you do now?"

"Go back home," the girl answered as she and Mushu began to walk down the mountain path.

"Your daddy's gonna be steamed as a chicken dumpling," Mushu said shamefully, causing Mulan to stop for a moment and hang her head in disappointment.

To try and cheer Mulan up, Sora grabbed Donald and Goofy and pulled them close, "Relax, we'll take our share of the blame."

Michiru nodded in agreement as Mulan turned around to face the group, "We helped you, so we might as well take some of the punishment with you. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Thanks," Mulan said with a grateful smile. "You're all wonderful friends."

The group of four then walked up to Mulan, ready to travel back with her. As the group made their way down the mountain however, they heard some kind of battle cry coming from the summit and turned their attention back in that direction. Staying out of sight to not be spotted, the group saw a swarm of the Rapid Thruster Heartless and among them was…

"Shan-Yu!?" Mulan gasped.

"He's alive!" Sora said in surprise.

"But how? No one could've survived an avalanche like that," Michiru pointed out. '_Especially not in the time period this world seems to be in._'

"He's heading for the Imperial City!" Mulan exclaimed as the group watched Shan-Yu make his own path down the mountain. "We've got to warn Shang!"

Looking at each other, the group of five nodded in agreement and ran down the mountain path as quickly as they could, luckily not running into any Heartless and thus assuming they were all with Shan-Yu. Upon reaching the checkpoint to the city, the group noticed the gate was left wide open. Believing that Shan-Yu had made it in before them, the group of five rushed through the gates to reach the city as fast as they could. Once they reached the city, the group as fast as they could towards the palace, passing by the wounded soldiers.

"—Shang!" Mulan called out when she was able to see him, causing the captain to stop and let the girl catch up to him. "Shan-Yu is alive! He's headed this way!"

"And why should I believe you this time?" Shang asked in distrust.

"Because she's telling the truth! We all saw him!" Michiru said, standing up for the girl.

A surprised squawk from Donald brought everyone's attention to the sky, where they saw the very same falcon that belonged to Shan-Yu flying above. With widened and careful eyes, Shang looked around the palace courtyard for any sign of Shan-Yu before spotting him on the palace roof, who looked down at the group and Imperial Army before jumping off and making his way into the palace itself.

"Guard the palace! Do not let the enemy get anywhere near the Emperor!" Shang commanded his troops, to which Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po charged on ahead along with some of the other soldiers that were still able to fight.

The other soldiers that were injured, though, started to give off a black smoke as they slowly walked towards their captain.

"That's an order!" Shang commanded, but gasped in surprise when the soldiers were enveloped by the smoke and turned into Nightwalkers as Mulan, Sora, and Michiru stepped between the Heartless and the captain with their weapons ready.

"We'll secure the courtyard, and you can save the Emperor!" Sora offered.

"We'll keep the Heartless off you, so don't worry about them!" Michiru added.

"That's an order!" Donald squawked.

With an understanding nod, Shang ran towards the palace as the group of five readied themselves for battle.

"Damn it, I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight so soon," Michiru said, still feeling tired from the summit.

"Just focus on getting your strength back. I'll fight for both of us," Sora told the teen.

"And how will you do that?" Michiru wondered.

"With this…" Sora said as he placed his left hand over his chest and his clothes began to give off a faint glow. "**Drive Form: Valor!**"

The boy's body was surrounded by a magical barrier as his clothing gave off a red glow, but the barrier soon shattered to reveal a new set of clothes for the key bearer, being predominately red and black with a fleur-de-lis on each sleeve and pant leg. Also, appearing in the boy's left hand was a second Keyblade. The blade of the weapon was blue and decorated with stars with the teeth was in the shaped of a crescent moon with a star and the guard looked like two shooting stars.

"Whoa…" was all Michiru could say in awe. "All right, I'll leave these guys to you. I'd just slow you guys down in this state."

With a confirming nod from the other four, Michiru managed to slip away from the battle to focus on getting his energy back. As the four fought, Sora demonstrated the capabilities of his Valor Form by performing amazing acrobatics and a deft use of both Keyblades to jump and slide around to deal quick, powerful strikes against the Heartless, jumping to the aide of his friends whenever they needed it, especially when a new type of Heartless, which looked like some kind of hovering tower, tried to attack by slamming itself into the ground to create shockwaves and by using electric attacks. Donald was able to counter the electric attacks by using his own Thunder magic to deflect the lightning bolts while Goofy got the idea to stand under the Bolt Tower Heartless with his shield raised over his head to prevent its shockwave attacks until a combination attack from Sora and Mulan was able to destroy the Heartless. With the courtyard cleared, Michiru made his way back to his new friends just as Sora's clothes return to their previous colours and the second Keyblade vanished from his hand.

"You got your strength back?" Sora asked the onmyouji.

"Just enough to be able to fight, so you won't have to worry about me," Michiru answered.

"Now we should get into the palace! The Emperor's in danger!" Mulan exclaimed worriedly.

"Then there's no time to lose," Sora said before the group rushed to the palace gate.

Once they made it to the gate, they saw Shan-Yu and the Emperor standing in front of the door with Shan-Yu raising his sword and then bringing it down, holding the blade close to the Emperor's neck.

"Now you'll bow to me," Shan-Yu decreed before turning his gaze away to see Sora, Donald, Goofy, Michiru, and Mulan standing before him and the Emperor.

Shan-Yu's gaze was held on Mulan for a moment, as if recognizing her until Captain Li Shang dropped down in front of the Hun and forced him back with a palm thrust to the face followed by shoving Shan-Yu to the ground. Shang then grabbed the Emperor and escorted him into the palace while Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po closed the gates behind them. Knowing that Shan-Yu would take to make his way through the door once he got back up, the group of five rushed ahead and stood in front of the door to block the Hun's path with their weapons ready.

"It ends now!" Mulan swore to Shan-Yu.

"Right now!" Sora followed.

Instead of being intimidated though, Shan-Yu just stood up straight as his falcon perched itself on his shoulder while the Hun chuckled in amusement, a black smoke surrounding him and giving his body a purple glow.

"What's going on?" Michiru wondered.

"He's using the power of the Heartless. That's how he was able to command them," the younger key bearer answered.

"Let's take him down!" Donald declared, starting the fight by raising his staff. "**Thunder!**"

With a faint glow from the duck's weapon, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, but Shan-Yu jumped back to avoid the magic attack before charging at the group. Goofy cut him off and raised his shield just in time to block a strike from the Hun's sword, but Shan-Yu just swung his left arm and threw Goofy aside. Michiru was next to charge in with his Keyblade, parrying Shan-Yu's sword swings. The Hun dodged Michiru's attempts at attacking by taking steps back to avoid the teen and his Keyblade before stepping to the side and grabbing the onmyouji's head, stopping Michiru in his tracks and lifting the teen up while squeezing his head, making the onmyouji cry out in pain.

"Let him go!" Mulan shouted as she charged in next with Sora right behind her.

Just as the two were about to attack, Shan-Yu held out Michiru's body as a shield, which forced his two newest attackers to back off for fear of hurting their friend.

"**Fire!**" a familiar voice squawked as Shan-Yu was struck from behind, causing him to drop Michiru and turn around to see Donald had managed to run behind him in the confusion of the fight and used some Fire magic.

Deciding to take out the ranged fighter first, Shan-Yu rushed at Donald, causing the duck to squawk and flee. Just as the Hun was about to catch Donald, Goofy jumped between them and struck with his shield, dazing Shan-Yu before striking him again to send the Hun flying back. Taking the opportunity, Sora, Michiru, and Mulan charged ahead to attack and began and flurry of sword swings. However, Shan-Yu was able to get back to his feet in time and jump aside to dodge the attacks and then deflect them with his own sword, pushing the three back and leaving them open. Seeing the opportunity, Shan-Yu took another swing of his sword, but was blocked when Michiru pulled up his sheathed Flower Bloomer as a shield. Sora and Mulan then charged it again and struck while the Hun was occupied, knocking the man back. Placing his hand over his chest with a fierce growl as Michiru put back his sheathed weapon, Shan-Yu's body was surrounding by the black mist again before charging at the group again faster than before. With barely any time to act, the group dove out of the way with Goofy trying to block the oncoming attack, only to be sent flying back into the palace gate.

"The Heartless power… it's making him so strong and fast," Mulan pointed out. "There has to be some way to stop him."

"Unfortunately I can't use my Drive Form again for a while, otherwise I think I could match him," Sora explained.

"Well, I may not be able to give you the speed boost, but I can give you the strength boost," Michiru offered.

"You can?" the younger key bearer asked.

"Yeah, though I don't know what kind of effect it'll have on us," the onmyouji warned. "You still want to give it a shot?"

"Might as well try it," Sora replied.

"All right then. Donald! Goofy! Mulan! Try to keep Shan-Yu off us!" Michiru called out.

Much to the teen's dismay, Shan-Yu immediately charged at him, but had a grateful smile when the Hun was struck by a bolt of lightning from Donald's Thunder magic, allowing Mulan to charge in and get the Hun to back up with a few swings of her sword while an attack from Goofy caused the larger man to stumble back a bit to avoid it.

"Ready when you are, Michiru," Sora said to the onmyouji, to which Michiru nodded.

As Michiru closed his eyes and clasped the handle of his Keyblade in both hands with the blade aimed at the ground, the red Shikigami pentagram appeared beneath him and Sora.

"Forces of nature, heed my call…" Michiru chanted as the pentagram began to glow brightly. "Unleash your power, Shikigami!"

Quickly opening his eyes, Michiru drove the Keyblade into the pentagram, releasing the burst of light from the spiritual circle. As the Keyblade disappeared into the light, a gigantic dragon made of pure Shikigami energy erupted from the pentagram with a powerful roar, drawing everyone's attention to it. The Shikigami dragon flew into the sky before coming right back down on top of Sora, causing the boy to cry out as he was enveloped by the Shikigami. Upon noticing it didn't hurt, Sora looked himself over as his body was covered in blue Shikigami flames until the energy condensed itself around his own Keyblade, giving the weapon a red and blue hue while also changing the gold-coloured guard into the head of the Shikigami dragon.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed in amazement. "Thanks for the boost, Michiru!"

Without letting the onmyouji respond, the boy charged at Shan-Yu with his empowered Keyblade and took a few swings at the Hun, spiritual energy being released from the weapon with each swing. Donald, Goofy, and Mulan had backed away from the fight, not knowing what the Keyblade could do when infused with Shikigami as Sora fought each other again. The two exchanged strikes, neither hitting the other with their weapon, until Sora swung his Keyblade down. Shan-Yu was able to jump back to dodge it, but the Keyblade left a small crater in the ground upon impact.

"He's still too fast! There's no way Sora can hit him!" Mulan said, trying to think of a way to beat Shan-Yu.

"I may not be able to use my Keyblade…" Michiru said to himself, realizing his Keyblade wouldn't return to him no matter how hard he tried to call for it. "But I can still use my Shikigami."

The Shikigami pentagram once again appeared beneath Michiru's feet and turned green as the onmyouji held out his right arm with his fingers spread.

"Oh overflowing blue sky!" Michiru started the chant as he kept his eyes on Shan-Yu. "Bind these evil demons!"

Watching the fight between his friend and Shan-Yu, Michiru was waiting for the right time to use his next technique just in case he accidentally caught Sora. Once he saw his chance…

"**Binding Blue Sky!**" Michiru finished the chant as tendrils of green Shikigami energy shot out from the onmyouji's fingers and flew towards the Hun.

Turning around right then and there proved to be Shan-Yu's biggest mistake as the tendrils wrapped themselves tightly around the Hun's body, preventing him from moving.

"That's it!" Sora declared as he charged at the ensnared Hun and struck with an upward swing of his powered-up Keyblade, hitting Shan-Yu dead on.

Feeling a slack in the bindings, Michiru dispersed the tendrils while Shan-Yu's eyes rolled to the back of his head, killed by the sheer power of the strike and fell to the ground on his back. As the Shikigami faded from Sora's Keyblade, returning it to its normal state, Donald, Goofy, Michiru, and Mulan ran back to the young key bearer and had their own little celebration before notifying Shang and the Emperor of Shan-Yu's defeat.

Later in the day, the palace courtyard was full of people anticipating the ceremony for the defeat of the Huns. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Michiru, and Mulan all stood before the Emperor as he walked towards the group.

"I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan," the Emperor said, to which the girl took a step forward and bowed. "You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier. You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name."

"We get the picture…" Sora groaned.

'_So this really is China… Who would've thought,_' Michiru mused in his head before sighing in his mind. '_Though I don't think I'd be able to find my way home from here. Nothing's ever that easy._'

"You're a young woman. And in the end…" the Emperor continued, to which Donald groaned thinking of the worst case scenario. "…you have saved us all."

The Emperor then bowed to Mulan as the girl slowly raised her head, surprising her with the display. As the girl was about to ask him not to, the cheers of the people were giving her second thoughts, even if she was a little embarrassed by the situation. Mulan and the others couldn't help but cheer for themselves as well and congratulate each other.

Mulan then turned back around to face the Emperor with a grateful smile on her face, "Your Excellency!"

"Captain Li?" the Emperor requested, to which Shang drew Shan-Yu's sword and placed it in Mulan's hands. "Take this, so the world will know what it is you have done for China."

"Thank you," was all Mulan could say before bowing to the Emperor.

"Mulan," Shang spoke up, earning the girl's attention.

"Yes?"

"Sora. Donald. Goofy. Michiru," Shang followed up before bowing to the five of them. "Thank you."

"'Thank you'? Is that all there is to say, Captain?" the Emperor asked, which managed to get Shang a bit flustered. "If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be a bit more eloquent than that!"

As Shang flustered trying to come up with a rebuttal, the Emperor and Mulan couldn't help but laugh at the display.

"Can I get an autograph?" Sora asked, trying to hold back a laugh, to which Mulan turned around to face the key bearer.

"Thank for everything, Sora," the girl said, then turned to Michiru. "And you too, Michiru. You both helped me out a lot."

Michiru just responded with a friendly smile before the group looked down at Mushu, who had a rather upbeat attitude about him, "Now they _gotta_ let me go back to bein' a guardian! They _gotta_!"

"But Mushu, I thought you already _were_ a family guardian!" Goofy said.

"What? Oh, no, no—don't even worry about that, that's just real technical. Just for us guardians," Mushu replied quickly with a laugh.

"You tricked us!" Sora accused a bit angrily.

Mushu tried to come up with an argument, but decided it best to run for his life as Sora chased after him. Mulan laughed at the two, but then gasped when Shan-Yu's sword began to glow and levitate into the air.

"Sora, look!" Michiru called out to the boy while pointing up at the floating sword.

"Huh?" Sora wondered as he turned around and saw the glowing weapon.

Knowing what to do, the boy summoned his Keyblade and held in front of him, aiming at the sword as the same crown-shaped pattern that appeared at Hollow Bastion reappeared beneath Sora's feet. Just like at Hollow Bastion with the membership card, the sword started to glow along with Sora's Keyblade before making a keyhole appear in the sky. Lifting the Keyblade to aim at the keyhole, Sora fired another thin beam of energy at the keyhole. In a flash of like, and with the sound of a turning lock, the keyhole disappeared.

"Okay!" Donald cheered.

"Guess it's about time to be movin' on," Goofy figured.

"You shall be missed," the Emperor said.

"Is it okay if we come back to visit?" Sora asked.

"Of course!" Mulan said enthusiastically.

"We will look forward to your return," Shang said.

"You two better play nice by the time we get back," Michiru decided to tease the two.

"Whoa… Watch it, soldier!" Shang said as he and Mulan started to blush before Mulan laughed at Shang's embarrassment.

"Goodbye, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Michiru!" Mulan said.

With a nod united nod, the group of four made their way back to the bamboo grove to board the Gummi Ship, but not before a keychain appeared in Sora's hand along the way.

"What's that thing?" Michiru asked.

"This?" Sora said as he held up the trinket. "Well, last year, whenever I locked a world to keep the Heartless out, I'd always get one of these keychains. If I connect them to my Keyblade, it'll change its appearance and give it new abilities."

"That's pretty cool," Michiru said. "Wonder if I'll get one myself."

"Maybe if you manage to open a world gate, but I think the Keyblade you have now is pretty amazing as it is," Sora said, to which Michiru summoned his Keyblade to his hand.

"Won't argue with you there," the onmyouji agreed. '_But I wonder why I couldn't use it after using my Shikigami to make Sora stronger… Just something else I'll have to ask if I can find Yen Sid._'

* * *

**A/N: So that's it for the chapter. I guess this is what happens when I make each chapter the length of an entire world... But better to do that than close off with a cliffhanger in the middle of a world. Anyway, I have a poll on my profile concerning the future of this story involving the world of Atlantica. I know a lot of people don't like that world, especially in KH2 since it's just stupid musicals with Quick-Time Events, but with how short each visit to Atlantica is in the game, I'm thinking of having another world in the same chapter as Atlantica. Of course, if none of you want to see Atlantica in this story, I'll just skip over it all together. Ultimately, the decision is up to all of you. Until then, this has been The Azure Guardian. Better log out and check my emails or something... (brownie points to whoever figures out where that last line is from)**


	3. Hiatus

**Sorry everyone, got a bit of bad news. I've kinda hit a wall with this chapter, so I'm feeling the need to put it on hiatus for a bit.**

**If anyone would like to lend me a hand to try and get past this bit of writer's block, let me know via a PM and I'll get you up to speed.**

**Once I've managed to get passed where I currently am and finish writing the chapter, I'll delete this notice and upload the actual chapter.**

**Really hate to do this since the stories I put on hiatus tend to die (examples are my CLANNAD fic and my Final Fantasy 9 fic), but I really have no idea how to drive this chapter forward.**

**Whatever help you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated guys.**

**Thanks for your support and once again, sorry for doing this.**

**... Damn, I seem to have a lot of trouble with my fics, don't I?**


End file.
